From the BBC:
“NI Troubles: Coveney
expresses concern about Troubles bill”
(Soldier in Belfast)
Legislation introduced to deal
with legacy issues related to the Northern Ireland Troubles is a cause for
"serious concern", Ireland's foreign affairs minister has said. The
UK government bill involves immunity from prosecution for those who co-operate
with investigations. It also prevents future inquests and civil actions related
to the Troubles. Simon Coveney said the Irish government cannot support the
bill "in its current form". Earlier, the commissioner for victims and
survivors said the legislation would remove the opportunity for justice for
some victims. Ian Jeffers said this was "a very bitter pill to
swallow". "Everybody recognises it's 40 years, it's 50 years, the
chances of a conviction are very slim," he told BBC Radio Ulster's Good
Morning Ulster programme. "But if you've lost your mother or your son are
you going to genuinely give that up? "I think that's the big issue we've
got to talk through with victims and survivors over the coming weeks."
What does the new legislation
say?
(Simon Coveney said the Irish government
could not support the proposals in their current form)
The 100-page Northern Ireland
Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill sets out investigations run by a new
information recovery body. The Independent Commission for Reconciliation and
Information Recovery (ICRIR) will be headed by a judicial figure appointed by
the government and would be operational for five years. The panel within ICRIR
will decide if a perpetrator qualifies for immunity. Civil claims which already
existed on or before the day of the bill's introduction will be allowed to
continue. Inquests which have reached substantive hearing stage a year after
the bill, or by the time the ICRIR becomes operational, can also go ahead.
Sandra Peake, chief executive of
victims' group Wave Trauma Centre, said the families of victims wanted fairness
and equity. "Ultimately what they want to know is that their loved one's
life mattered and that there has been a full process to account for that,"
she told Good Morning Ulster. Speaking about the issue of immunity for
perpetrators she said: "Why is murder in relation to the Troubles
different to murder undertaken in the streets of London? "We have families
who continue to be jeered at, sneered at and winked at by those responsible for
their loved ones murders." In a statement issued on Wednesday, Mr Coveney
said: "It is disappointing that the UK Government have chosen to
unilaterally introduce legislation, when our starting point was the need for an
agreement to be reached between both governments and the parties, and with the
needs of victims and survivors at the heart of the process". The minister
said he had concerns about the powers of the commission, the status of
'reviews' proposed in the bill and its compliance with European Convention on
Human Rights. "We will continue to engage with the UK Government, at all
levels, to better understand the provisions of this bill and the policy intent,
but at this initial stage, I have serious concerns and cannot support it in its
current form," he continued.
(Kenny Donaldson from Innocent Victims
United)
Kenny Donaldson from Innocent
Victims United, which represents 12,500 families in Northern Ireland, said
victims and survivors are being asked to "be party to the effective
closing off of the past". "That is a huge ask for people who have
already suffered so grievously," he added. Helen Deery, whose 15-year-old
brother Manus was with a group of friends when he was shot in the head by a
soldier from an observation post on Londonderry's walls in May 1972, said his
death was still "heartbreaking". A coroner ruled in 2017 that he was
"totally innocent" and did not pose a threat to anyone.
(Helen Deery, whose brother Manus
was shot and killed by a soldier in 1972, said the new law was disgusting)
"I feel the exact same way
today as the day he died. I won't rest until we get justice," she told BBC
Radio Foyle. "There is absolutely nothing in it (the bill) for
victims." Ms Deery added: "We have never been consulted on anything.
I think it is disgusting."
'A step in the right
direction'
(Veterans' Commissioner Danny
Kinahan said soldiers would want to give evidence to a new information recovery
body)
Veterans' Commissioner Danny
Kinahan said he believed the legislation was "a step in the right
direction". "It is going to be difficult, we are never going to
please everybody we have a system that doesn't work," he told Good Morning
Ulster. "We had to find a way where families and veterans' families are as
important as everyone else and they want to know what happened. "They also
want a chance for justice." Mr Kinahan said he was confident that soldiers
"want to come forward" and provide information to the ICRIR. "They
want to show they did nothing wrong, they want to follow the rule of law, most
importantly they want society to realise what they want through, what they did.
"They went out there, they stopped terrorism, they stopped a civil war
and, in many cases, they find themselves being demonised. "They want to go
in there, give evidence, show they did nothing wrong."
^ The United Kingdom continues to
do what it has done since the 1960s – protect the British Military, the British
Government, the British Politicians, the Northern Irish Protestant Government
and the Northern Irish Protestant Politicians. They have worked long and hard
to cover-up their crimes in Northern Ireland – including Victim-Shaming – and now
seek to continue to help those who committed Murder, Terrorism and other Crimes
instead of helping the Victims and their Families. Clearly the British Government has not and cannot be neutral in all of this so a 3rd Party Country or Group (not the UK, not Northern Ireland and not Ireland) needs to come in and take over all of this. This new Group should bring everyone who committed a crime during The Troubles (whether they are British, Northern Irish, Irish, Politician, Soldier, Police, Terrorist, Catholic or Protestant) to trial and finally bring justice to the Victims and their Families. ^
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