Blair concedes amnesty will cause anguish

CONTROVERSIAL legislation granting an amnesty to Northern Ireland terrorists on the run would cause “anger and anguish”, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said yesterday.

But he said the new law, due to be given its second reading in the Commons today, was needed to give momentum to the stalled peace process.

Under the legislation, those wanted by police for offences committed before the Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1998 will have their slate wiped clean, just as those held in jail for such offences have been released.

Mr Blair said: “It’s never been a secret that we need to do something because otherwise there’s an anomaly.

“For those people convicted of crimes before the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, they are now out of prison and free. It was always going to be an anomaly we had to resolve in respect of those people who had not been convicted but had been sought pre-1998.”

However, he stressed: “This hasn’t popped up. There’s a sense in some of the comments made by some of those in Northern Ireland that this has come as a shock. This has been part of the discussions we have had with parties in Northern Ireland going back several years.”

“The ‘on the run’ thing is very, very difficult. It’s true the political parties in Northern Ireland are never going to agree with this legislation. I think they all actually know this has to be done. It doesn’t surprise me that they are going to oppose it very vigorously and say some very harsh things about the Government.”

He added: “I’m not pretending this is an easy issue at all. This is an issue that’s uncomfortable to deal with for very obvious reasons. If you don’t deal with this, you can’t move forward and I think the most important thing is to move it forward. But I don’t minimise the anger there will be in some quarters or the anguish if you are the relative of a policeman in Northern Ireland who was killed.”

Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy said: “There are serious problems with a scheme which doesn’t even require an accused person to appear in court.”