British govt scraps 'On The Run' legislation

The British government today dramatically scrapped controversial legislation which would have allowed terror suspects to return to Northern Ireland without ever being jailed.

Secretary of State Peter Hain was forced to withdraw the Northern Ireland (Offences) Bill after it came under fierce criticism from all sides in Belfast.

Mr Hain told MPs Sinn Féin’s decision late last month to oppose the Bill because security force personnel would also have qualified for the scheme had rendered the legislation meaningless.

“Sinn Féin has now said that any republican potentially covered by the legislation should have nothing to do with it,” the minister said.

“But if nobody goes through the process, victims, who would have suffered the pain of having to come to terms with this legislation, would have had done so for nothing.

“That is unacceptable and I am therefore withdrawing the Bill.”

The Bill would have enabled people who had been living abroad, or people suspected of murders before the Good Friday Agreement to avoid ever having to go to jail in Northern Ireland for offences.

To qualify, they would have been asked to apply to a certification commissioner to ensure they would not be sent to prison.

The commissioner would have asked the police if the person was suspected of crimes.

If the applicant was, he or she would have been issued with a certificate guaranteeing they would not be arrested.

The certificate would have set in train a special tribunal, with its own judge and prosecutors, to examine the offence the person is alleged to have committed.

If the person was found guilty, he or she would have received a special licence similar to that given to 400 paramilitary prisoners released under the Good Friday Agreement guaranteeing they will remain free unless they offend again.

Victims and human rights groups, the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, unionists, nationalist SDLP and the cross community Alliance Party condemned the legislation for failing to compel those accused of offences to face their victims during the tribunal hearings.

The SDLP and Sinn Féin also criticised the inclusion of security force personnel involved in murders carried out by loyalist paramilitary groups in the scheme.

But Mr Hain defended their inclusion in his statement.

“Mr Speaker, to exclude any members of the security forces who might have been involved in such offences from the provisions of the Bill would not only have been illogical, it would have been indefensible and we would not do it,” the Northern Ireland Secretary insisted.

“Closure on the past cannot be one sided. That was, and is, non-negotiable.”