Unionists demand spotlight shone on Dublin's role in the Troubles, as Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) bill to come before House of Lords

The Government's controversial Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) bill, which introduces conditional amnesties comes before the House of Lords tomorrow for its latest reading.

Former UUP leader Tom Elliott, who is an MLA for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, said Troubles legacy provisions so far have not taken the Irish government's role in the Troubles into account.

"We have raised this at every legacy negotiation," he told the News Letter.

The British government should be putting more pressure on the Irish government because all the Irish have always pressed the UK government to have more openness and transparency on the Troubles, he added.

"Anything that is set up here, there should be reciprocal measures in the Republic of Ireland.

"After all, many of the republican terrorists used the Republic as a safe haven to operate from. He said that the Smithwick Inquiry in Dublin found some of the Garda were helping the terrorists with their activities.

"And then the Arms Trial in the 1970s raises many questions about the role of the Irish government in the creation of the IRA.”

DUP MLA Diane Dodds strongly agreed with his analysis.

"There remains no acknowledgement of the role played by the then Government in Dublin in the formation and funding of the Provisional IRA," she said. "There has been no serious attempt to deal with allegations of Garda collusion, whilst victims such as those of the Kingsmills massacre have been let down.

"These fundamental issues need to be acknowledged and resolved by Dublin. Unless this happens, any structure or body established is unlikely to see real progress for the victims of terrorism. The proposals put forward by the UK Government have been universally rejected by victims and they will continue to be opposed by DUP representatives in Parliament.”

TUV leader Jim Allister said the issue was a key part of his last party manifesto. "There is a massive case for the Republic to answer,” he added.

Axel Schmidt of Ulster Human Rights Watch said at present in Northern Ireland the existing bodies which actively investigate Troubles cases include the Legacy Investigation Branch of the PSNI, the Police Ombudsman, and the free release of inquest and court documents by the Public Records Office.

However he says there are no such parallels in the Republic of Ireland to investigate Troubles legacy matters. Court and inquest documents are not in the public domain and the Garda ombudsman does not investigate legacy cases.

"If you look at what they have, at the moment, you will very quickly realise that they have basically, very little if anything to deal with the legacy of the past," he said.

He too said that legacy structures in Northern Ireland "must be matched by those in the Republic of Ireland".