Blair: Ulster 'amnesty' essential to peace process

Prime Minister Tony Blair accepted today that controversial legislation to grant an amnesty to the North's terrorists on the run would cause “anger and anguish”.

But he said the new law, due to be given its second reading in the Commons tomorrow, 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 told the Commons Liaison Committee, made up of the chairmen of all its select committees: “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.

“People can agree with that or disagree with that but that’s the case. 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.

“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.

“I really believe it’s best to get this issue out of the way so we can get on with building an executive and an assembly that are back up and running again. If it hangs over this process much longer, it won’t do any of us any good.

“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 (British) government.

“But I also genuinely believe we need to get this out of the way and dealt with so we can get on with the really tough thing, which is building consent for the institutions.”

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.”