Fourth (or is it fifth?) times the charm it seems as London and Dublin have revealed their new framework to tackle the festering wound of legacy issues in Northern Ireland.
We have of course been here before. We had the Eames-Bradley report in 2009 which faced a wave of criticism for its suggestion that the relatives of the nearly four thousand people who perished in the Troubles should receive a one-off payment of £12,000, even if the person who died was a paramilitary. This proposal ultimately went nowhere.
The Stormont House Agreement saw a second attempt to create a framework for legacy issues. According to this BBC report the proposals included “An independent body called the Historical Investigations Unit would examine unsolved murders from the Troubles era. It was to take on the hundreds of outstanding cases yet to be dealt with by the Police Service of Northern Ireland. The Independent Commission on Information Retrieval would be a way for victims’ families to find out more about how and why their loved ones had died. Perpetrators or others with knowledge of killings would be able to give the commission information on the basis of limited immunity from prosecution.” There were also plans for an Oral History Archive to allow people to record their experiences of the Troubles for posterity but it, alongside everything else proposed, never came into being.
The next attempt at dealing with Legacy issues was the 2023 Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) bill which was shepherded through Westminster by the then Conservative government. This attempted to draw a line under legacy issues by ending prosecutions and inquests and instead focusing on truth recovery with the government of the day and supporters of the act arguing that the march of time meant prosecutions were increasingly unlikely and unfair in that it involved increasingly elderly people being brought before the courts to account for crimes committed decades ago on the basis of evidence and recollections hopelessly compromised by the passage of time. It offered a conditional amnesty to those willing to assist the search for that truth to a new legacy commission set up specifically for that purpose. Some detractors, which included the Irish government and the entirety of Northern Ireland’s political class (though for widely divergent reasons) suspected that the real reason was the sensitivity of the Conservative government to complaints from British Army Veteran groups who felt elderly soldiers were being victimised, with then veterans minister Johnny Mercer’s expressions of pride at the passage of the bill wherein he framed it as a success due to how it helped veterans rather than assisted the resolution of legacy issues in Northern Ireland considered something of an admission. The Irish government promptly took the British government to court over the new process, and the Labour party promised to repeal it. As everyone could see Labour was on course to win the next British general election (which it duly did in July 2024), the institutions proposed by the Bill never really got a chance to get going as the bill’s authors envisioned.
Labour worked with the Irish government to build an alternative to the 2023 act, and on Friday Secretary of State Hilary Benn and Tánaiste Simon Harris unveiled the new proposals at a press conference. There was an emphasis on the joint approach to the new framework from London and Dublin (though Dublin won’t drop its legal action until the new legislation required by the proposals is passed in Westminster). Julian O’Neill for BBC NI writes that the proposals are as follows
“The UK government said the deal involves a package of protections for veterans, including “a protection in old age”.
The Legacy Commission, born out the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR), will have independent oversight. The new commission will also be “under a statutory duty not to duplicate the work of any previous investigations unless there are compelling reasons to do so”. It will have two new directors for investigations. The commission must also “take into account the health and wellbeing of potential witnesses at all times”. Inquests which had commenced but had not ended before the current Legacy Act came into force last year will be restored. Others which had not begun will be reviewed to identify a way forward. It is understood changes to the ICRIR will also cover its commissioner for investigations role, a position held by former senior police officer Peter Sheridan. Investigations by the commission will explore and exhaust all investigative leads. Independent judges will preside over the commission’s inquisitorial public hearings, with families legally represented.
A cross-border Independent Commission on Information Retrieval will be set-up, initially for two years. It will receive information on Troubles cases from individuals which cannot be used in prosecutions.
In the Republic of Ireland, a dedicated legacy unit within the gardaí (Irish police) will be established and be operational by the end of this year, for co-operation on Troubles-related cases. Ireland will bring forward legislation, where required, to facilitate full cooperation with the Legacy Commission, once its reform is enacted in UK law. There will also be a ring-fenced €25m (£21m) fund to support victim participation in legacy processes in Northern Ireland.”
Both governments believe these proposals are more in line with the 2014 Stormont House Agreement which had cross-party consensus.
Reaction has been mixed with victims and victims organisations expressing a mix of exasperation and caution towards the proposals as a companion piece from the BBC makes very clear…
“Emmett McConomy, whose 11-year-old brother Stephen was shot dead by a soldier in Derry in 1982, said he hoped the deal was “a step in the right direction” but warned it could fail without meaningful consultation. “Without proper buy-in from victims, this could sadly be doomed to fail,” he told BBC Radio Foyle’s North West Today.
Serena Hamilton is the daughter of Cpl David Graham, who was murdered off-duty in Coalisland in 1977, and she had just began her journey with the ICRIR and wants to know what the new legacy framework will mean for her. “Now we’re getting another policy, is that taking away from it because the ICRIR was possibly going to work for people like myself,” she told BBC News NI. “Every time you feel like you’re getting somewhere then, they take it away”. Ms Hamilton said that she felt confident and comfortable going through the process with the ICRIR, “they answered quite quickly which was really reassuring as well”.”Going through another process, I don’t think there’s many people that can absolutely go through all of that again”.
On the political side of things, Sinn Féin is adopting a wait and see approach with Mary-Lou McDonald stressing “that some of the documents were still coming across the party’s desks but said victims’ reaction to the deal would be essential to its success or failure. “If it doesn’t meet the tests set by them then it’s going to fall flat,” she said.
DUP leader Gavin Robinson criticised the proposals, saying “the new proposals require “serious examination” and criticised the lack of prior consultation with victims and veterans. He accused the Irish government of failing for 25 years to provide answers to victims’ families and warned that for many, the proposals may be “too little, too late.”
The role of the Irish government in jointly designing the framework was a sore spot for TUV leader Jim Allister as well who said it was “An obscenity which makes unionist buy-in impossible,” The UK government “has failed innocent victims to prioritise placating Dublin”, the MP added.”I could not recommend any innocent victim to give this sham any credibility by participating in it. Other unionist leaders should equally stand strong against this betrayal.”
Clare Hanna of the SDLP said that “the deal showed “some progress” but warned it risked falling short for victims. “We have serious concerns that what is being brought forward will fall short in meeting the needs of victims and their families,” Hanna said. “We are running out of opportunities to address the past and we cannot afford another false dawn.”
Hanna’s last statement is one we should reflect on, no matter our own personal views. Time is running out for those who seek truth and justice about what happened to them or their loved ones in the long dark days of the Troubles as both victims and perpetrators grow old and pass away. Perhaps this imperfect solution should be seized, not because it is objectively the best way forward (for there is no objectively best way forward on this most delicate of subjects) but because, realistically, this is likely the last chance for meaningful outcomes in all too many tragic cases.
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