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Series of public inquiries on Troubles incidents ‘not the way forward'
Series of public inquiries on Troubles incidents ‘not the way forward'

The Independent

time23-06-2025

  • Politics
  • The Independent

Series of public inquiries on Troubles incidents ‘not the way forward'

The legacy of Northern Ireland's past is not going to be dealt with by a series of public inquiries, Secretary of State Hilary Benn has said. He came under questioning over the Government's handling of legacy cases during a meeting of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee on Monday. Mr Benn insisted that a reformed Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) will be able to deal with the cases. The body led by Sir Declan Morgan, a former lord chief justice for Northern Ireland, was set up by the former government's Legacy Act after scores of legacy inquests and other court cases relating to the Troubles were halted. The Kingsmill massacre and the Guildford pub bombings are among cases it is currently looking at. Mr Benn told MPs they are working to change disclosure arrangements and to make it compliant with Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights. 'In the end, we're not going to deal with legacy with a whole series of public inquiries,' he said. 'We're doing all this work to try and create a body which is capable of delivering justice for all, information for all, answers for all. 'That is what I am trying to do at the moment because of the incompatibilities identified.' He was asked about his decision not to call a public inquiry into the circumstances around the murder of GAA official Sean Brown in 1997. In May the UK Government confirmed it will seek a Supreme Court appeal over a court ruling that ordered it to hold a public inquiry into Mr Brown's murder. The 61-year-old then-chairman of Wolfe Tones GAA Club in the Co Londonderry town of Bellaghy was ambushed, kidnapped and murdered by loyalist paramilitaries as he locked the gates of the club in May 1997. No-one has ever been convicted of his killing. Preliminary inquest proceedings last year heard that in excess of 25 people had been linked by intelligence to the murder, including several state agents. It was also alleged in court that surveillance of a suspect in the murder was temporarily stopped on the evening of the killing, only to resume again the following morning. Asked about Mr Brown's case, Mr Benn told MPs: 'It's an awful, awful case. 'The murder of Sean Brown was shocking, deeply violent, and this has caused immense suffering to the family, to his widow Bridie and to the wider community, including the GAA family, because of the role that he undertook. 'But I came to the conclusion that the commission reformed would be capable of looking into it, and there's an issue of principle here in respect to the court ruling. 'Up until this moment, the courts accepted that it is for governments to decide whether public inquiries are ordered, not for the courts. 'What the courts have tended to say is, this is the test that has to be met, the way in which the government chooses to meet that test is a matter for governments to decide. 'There is a margin of appreciation that is made available. 'In this particular case, the court has decided to order a public inquiry. 'We're seeking leave to appeal to the Supreme Court because of that fundamental principle, which is, courts do not order public inquiries, governments do, and that is very important because of the nature of the mandatory order I am not able to do anything else other than order a public inquiry, which I made it clear that the Government is not going to do, because I believe there's another means of dealing with this case.' Mr Benn said there are five other cases that are in the same position. 'People say the Sean Brown case is unique. All murders are unique and uniquely painful for the family, but it is not a unique case,' he said. 'This is not a unique case, and I would also say we are not going to deal with legacy by having a whole series of public inquiries. 'That is not a way forward. That is why we have to make the reform of the commission to win public confidence. 'To make it ECHR compliant is so important because then you have a mechanism that you can use to deal with all of them and all of us, the committee, the whole team, everybody needs to be concerned about justice for everyone.' He added: 'It is open to the Brown family to go to the commission today, the commission will start work on investigating.'

ICRIR given advice over enabling potential meetings for victims and perpetrators
ICRIR given advice over enabling potential meetings for victims and perpetrators

The Independent

time21-05-2025

  • Politics
  • The Independent

ICRIR given advice over enabling potential meetings for victims and perpetrators

Northern Ireland's legacy body received advice around a potential move to enable victims and perpetrators to meet where there is a desire to, a Westminster committee has heard. Sir Declan Morgan, chief commissioner at the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) said 'extreme caution would be needed'. Addressing the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee on Wednesday, Sir Declan said they have considered actions beyond compiling a report on murders and atrocities from the region's troubled past. 'We've looked at whether if victims want to meet perpetrators, or representatives of perpetrators, whether there should be a mechanism for them to do so,' he told MPs. 'The first thing about anything that goes beyond the report that we produce is that it must be victim led. 'It's not for the perpetrator to make any decision about this, it must be victim led. 'We had our external assurance group reflect on how this might be done, and what the mechanisms might be, and the advice back to us is that it is certainly worth thinking about something after the report has been prepared where there might be a way of enabling some kind of meeting between the victim and the perpetrator, but the advice is that you need to be astonishingly careful about this because the danger is that you will actually retraumatise the victim. 'I think if it is going to be contemplated, I would have thought the most sensible thing to do is to think carefully about it and then to run something as a pilot rather than just to put it into the legislation wholesale. 'But I can't overemphasise the advice to us from the external assurance group, which included some experienced people in this territory that you need to be very careful.' ICRIR commissioner for investigations Peter Sheridan, who in a former role brought together an IRA man and the widow of the police officer he murdered, also appeared at the committee. He said, when he was chief executive of peacebuilding charity Co-operation Ireland, he was approached by the widow over meeting the perpetrator. 'I didn't know her, she wanted to meet the perpetrator of her husband's murder, I didn't know him either but through a process I got the two of them together,' he told MPs. 'I went into the room with them, I said to them, 'look, I feel like this is a private conversation', and the widow said to me, 'no, I want you to stay'. 'I have never broken the confidence of what was said in that room between them. 'Except two things struck me about it, one was how respectful the conversation was, even though this person had been involved in the murder of her husband, but secondly the questions this lady was asking. 'She wasn't asking what I would have thought as an investigator, she was asking simple things, 'were you following our kids to school at the weekend, did you follow them to the swimming pool, were you looking through our windows at night time'. 'These were things that were with her for over 40 years, and she rhymed them off, it wasn't just that this was somehow today she thought about them, this had been in her mind. 'And he answered them, and answered them honestly, and then told his own story, and I left with the two of them embracing. 'That was one sense of reconciliation for those two people, not every victim wants to meet the perpetrator but I do see that there are other opportunities, and it is one of the reasons why I put my hand up to apply for the commission because I could see that there were other possibilities in it.'

Legacy body focused on and capable of uncovering ‘unvarnished truth'
Legacy body focused on and capable of uncovering ‘unvarnished truth'

The Independent

time21-05-2025

  • Politics
  • The Independent

Legacy body focused on and capable of uncovering ‘unvarnished truth'

The leader of a new Troubles legacy body has insisted that it is focused on and capable of uncovering the unvarnished truth for victims and survivors. Sir Declan Morgan, chief commissioner of the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) also described a 'reset moment' to improve the 'imperfect' Legacy Act. It comes after the controversial legislation was passed despite widespread opposition and concern from political parties in Northern Ireland and victims and survivors of the Troubles. The Legacy Act halted scores of cases going through the courts and inquests concerning the Troubles. Giving evidence to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee over how the Government should address the region's past, Sir Declan said the ICRIR currently has 60 investigations ongoing, and has received more than 160 requests. Those include the deaths of five people in the IRA's Guildford pub bombings in 1974, the death of Alexander Millar in Ardoyne in 1975, the death of Seamus Bradley shot by the Army in Londonderry in 1972 and the death of the judge Rory Conaghan killed by the IRA in 1975. Sir Declan told MPs: 'Those would not have happened if we had not looked at the opportunities that this legislation has provided, and we can do all of those things in an Article 2-compliant way, and in a way which will eventually secure the unvarnished truth. 'By the end of this year we will have over 100 investigations in relation to probably more than 150 deaths ongoing, and by the time of the legislation we would expect that that number would have significantly increased, as would the number of people that we have been able to help. 'The choice was whether to help those people who were anxious to have an answer to what they wanted or stand back and say, this legislation is not perfect. I don't make any apology for the fact that I decided I wanted to help people.' He added: 'I just wonder whether the approach to the work of the commission will be treated in such a negative light, particularly when the two governments reach agreement on what they want to do.' Also giving evidence to the committee, ICRIR commissioner for investigations Peter Sheridan said he absolutely rejects that they are carrying out light-touch reviews. 'Let me assure this committee that it is absolutely not,' he told MPs. He described the first stage of the process as being a cold case review which looks for new evidence, verifies old evidence, identifies investigative failures and re-examines forensics. 'That's going to be the key for us because witness evidence from the past is difficult, but new forensic opportunities, and I already see it in some of the cases … so we're examining that with the latest trace evidence that you can use,' he said. 'Looking at continuity of evidence in old cases, conduct fresh searches on data bases and use advances in digital forensics, so it is absolutely not a light-touch review. 'I am duty-bound under the legislation to look into all of the circumstances of the case, that's what we're doing.' Sir Declan emphasised that the focus of the ICRIR is 'on finding a mechanism to ensure that we achieve the unvarnished truth for victims and survivors'. 'The High Court and the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland have found that we are capable of doing this in an Article 2-compliant way in most if not all cases,' he said. 'The litigation that has occurred in Northern Ireland has been very hard on families and with hindsight I just wonder whether we could all as lawyers have done better in dealing with it. 'This is a reset moment, we need to make the changes to this imperfect legislation that will support the two governments and help us in the project of finding the truth.' Asked about their communication with the Northern Ireland Office over reform of the Legacy Act, ICRIR chief executive Louise Warde Hunter said there has been 'ongoing cordial and robust conversations'. 'We are fully committed to the issue of reform, to strengthen in order to deliver for victims, survivors and families,' she said. Steven Bramley, general counsel at the ICRIR, added that the areas they want to reform include greater independent oversight; a statutory voice for victims and survivors; statutory investigations, not reviews; a statutory conflict of interest policy; a self initiation power where there is a thematic link between different events; and 'a power for chief constables to refer cases directly to us when new evidence comes to light'.

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