Political NI

From the BBC:

“Troubles: Political reaction to PM's plan to end prosecutions”

(Brandon Lewis faced questions from MPs in the House of Commons on Wednesday_

There has been widespread political reaction to the government's confirmation that it intends to bring forward legislation to ban all prosecutions related to the Troubles. The Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the proposals to address the legacy of the past will allow NI to "draw a line under the Troubles". The NI Secretary told Parliament it was a decision not taken lightly. BBC News NI looks at political representatives' reaction to the news.

Democratic Unionist Party (DUP)

(Sir Jeffrey Donaldson)

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said the proposal was an "effective amnesty for Troubles-related crimes" and was "totally unacceptable". "Victims will see these proposals as perpetrator-focused rather than victim-focused and an insult to both the memory of those innocent victims who lost their lives during our Troubles and their families," he said in a statement. He said justice had been "corrupted" in 1998 with the release of prisoners and then by Tony Blair's On-The-Run letters. "Understandably many victims will feel that these proposals represent a further denial of the opportunity to secure justice for their loved ones," he said. "There can be no equivalence between the soldier and police officer who served their country and those cowardly terrorists who hid behind masks and terrorised under the cover of darkness. We find any such attempted equivalence as offensive."

Sinn Féin

(Michelle O'Neill)

Deputy First Minister and Sinn Féin vice-president Michelle O'Neill said the government has "yet again shown a blatant disregard" for victims by intending to impose a statute of limitations. She questioned why the government was moving in this direction when all the main Stormont parties and victims' groups were opposing the move. "There is no room for an amnesty in terms of dealing with the past," she said. She said the government's intention of the proposals was to "cover up" its role during the Troubles. She added that there needed to be a meeting of Stormont party leaders now with the two governments. "I look towards the Irish government, they need to hold the British government to account," she said. "We are certainly not going to take this lying down."

The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP)

(Colum Eastwood)

Speaking in the House of Commons on Wednesday, party Leader Colum Eastwood raised the 1990 case of Patsy Gillespie and asked would the NI secretary come with him to meet his widow and explain "why he wants to protect his killers from prosecution and investigation". Brandon Lewis, in turn, said he will meet any victim and accused SDLP leader of using "emotive comments for soundbites". Later, Mr Eastwood said the government's approach was a "serious act of bad faith that will breach obligations undertaken in successive all-party agreements and the international treaty signed at Stormont House." "You cannot draw a line in the sand on injustice."

Ulster Unionist Party (UUP)

(Doug Beattie)

"Wednesday's announcement reinforces the injustice which has already been dealt to victims," said UUP leader Doug Beattie. "It's the wrong path and will tread on the emotions of innocent victims and their families. Nobody has the right to deny them the hope that someday, finally, they might see justice being done. "The Ulster Unionist Party has been consistent and unequivocal in its opposition to any proposals for an amnesty. "We warned about this when some were championing a statute of limitations despite the inevitable conclusion that it would lead to an amnesty for terrorists."

The Alliance Party

(Stephen Farry)

Alliance deputy leader Stephen Farry MP said the proposals were "an assault on the rule of law and human rights". The North Down MP said it was an "insult to victims from all backgrounds". "The UK government has unilaterally abandoned the Stormont House Agreement, something agreed by two governments and most local parties," he said. "This approach is framed solely around the perceived need to address what is a false narrative of vexatious investigations of Army veterans." He said if the legislation was to go ahead without agreement from victims it would not be in line with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

The Irish government

(Simon Coveney)

"We do not believe the UK proposals published today can be the basis for dealing with legacy cases, or would be supported by the parties or people in Northern Ireland," said the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney. In a statement, he added that "there will be a strong onus on the UK government in the engagement process to explain how their proposals could fully comply with their ECHR and other legal and international human rights obligations, or properly meet the needs of victims and their families". Mr Coveney said the Irish government had "agreed to have a process of intensive engagement" with the British government and Northern Ireland's political parties "to find a collective way forward on legacy issues and that should be the focus now".

The Labour Party

(Keir Starmer)

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said a blanket amnesty was "plain wrong" and not supported by victims. He said: "Last Thursday I spoke to victims at the Wave Trauma Centre. They haven't even been properly consulted on this proposal. "If things are to move forward in Northern Ireland, any discussion has to start with the victims."

Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Louise Haigh, said it was "deeply regrettable" that the government's approach on legacy has put victims' trust in the government at "rock-bottom". She accused Mr Johnson's the government of having taken a "sledgehammer" to promises it made to victims last year when it pledged in New Decade New Approach to implement Stormont House Agreement plans on legacy.

The Conservative Party Speaking in the House of Commons, the chairman of the Northern Ireland Select Committee, Simon Hoare MP, asked if there is a "George Mitchell-like figure in the wings" who the government could deploy to act as an "honest broker" in taking forward the proposals to tackle legacy issues.

^ The British Government should not be allowed to continue to cover-up their murder and wounding of innocent and unarmed Catholic men, women and children from 1968-1998.

 Not every Catholic was innocent or unarmed during The Troubles, but the Catholics in Northern Ireland were officially classified by both the British Government in Belfast and the British Government in London as the main targets and so hunted down by the British Military and Police Forces.

Then their murders were officially covered-up by London for decades, their murderers were rewarded including getting medals from the Queen and the victims blamed for their own deaths.

It should be noted that from 1968-1972 the Northern Irish Catholics overwhelmingly supported having the British Military sent to Northern Ireland as they were seen as a neutral force to protect the Catholics from the Protestants (who had been attacking, murdering and bombing the Catholics since 1966.)

It was only after several massacres of unarmed and innocent Catholic men, women and children by the British Military and then the British Government's cover-up that the vast majority of Catholics joined in the fight against the repressive and deadly British occupation of Northern Ireland.

The Catholics in Northern Ireland did not receive full and equal Civil Rights until the Good Friday Peace Accords in 1998 (Northern Irish Protestants received full and equal Civil Rights - the same as any Scottish, Welsh or English person in the UK - in 1921.)

It was only since the 2010s that the British Government officially started acknowledging their own crimes and now in 2021 the British Government is going to continue to protect the murderers from justice and continue to spit on the graves of the innocent men, women and children.

The British Government created the problem by their official anti-Catholic discrimination polices in all of Ireland, they continued the problem by giving Protestants equal rights, but not Catholics when Northern Ireland was created in 1921, they made the problem deadlier by targeting unarmed Catholics and massacring them in the 1960s, 70s, 80s and 90s and then covering it up and now the British Government is creating the seeds for new violence by pardoning all the criminals who wounded and killed for 30 years.

2021 is 100 years since Northern Ireland was divided from Ireland and yet after so many years the British don't seem to have learned from all their mistakes. In fact they are actively creating more. ^

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-57837622