Trimble: Compensation proposal 'offensive'

Former Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble today denounced as “offensive” a proposal to offer financial compensation to the family of every person killed in the North's Troubles.

The plan for a £12,000 (€12,700) payment, believed to be a key proposal of an advisory group set up to deal with the legacy of violence in the North, has sparked controversy because it would be paid not only to families of victims of terrorism but also to relatives of dead IRA and loyalist militants.

But Lord Trimble suggested that he could understand the reasoning behind the proposal, as it was clear that the innocent wives and children of terrorists had suffered financially as a result of their family members’ deaths while involved in paramilitary crimes.

He objected instead to the idea that money could make up for the loss of a loved one. Financial compensation is already available to victims of violence from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme, and money is being paid out on a discretionary basis by the Memorial Fund set up 10 years ago.

It is understood the Consultative Group on the Past led by former Church of Ireland Primate Lord Robin Eames and former Northern Ireland police board vice chairman Denis Bradley wanted to end the so-called “hierarchy of victims”, in the belief that the pain of all those bereaved is equal.

Their ambitious blueprint – due to be unveiled next week and expected to cost a total of £210m (€223m) – includes plans for a “Legacy Commission” to bring closure to all the unsolved murders of the Troubles in a five-year period.

Lord Trimble told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “What the victims of the Troubles want is, first of all, to be remembered and, secondly, they want to feel that what they suffered was not in vain – that their sacrifice helped to build a better, safer, more democratic future for the people of Northern Ireland.

“To come forward first with money is offensive.

“One would question it, because there always existed in Northern Ireland a statutory Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme. Ten years ago, another report into the issue of victims led to the creation of the Memorial Fund which has addressed some of the financial aspects of the hardship that people have suffered, though not on the scale of this.

“Just to come, 10 years later, with an offer of more money is going to be seen by a lot of people as offensive.”

Lord Trimble acknowledged that the idea of giving compensation to the families of those responsible for violence in the North, as well as their victims, was difficult for the community to accept and had not gone down well with most unionists.

But he added: “The fact that a family member joined a paramilitary organisation and engaged in acts of terrorism and maybe was killed as a result of that – it is possible to look at the family members and say that they themselves were not engaged in terrorism.

“Because a person who was maybe the head of the family has lost his life there is a loss and a suffering on the rest of the family, particularly when you think of children. They themselves are innocent of that.”

The Eames/Bradley group last night declined to comment on their report and asked for the public to wait until the full set of proposals were released on Wednesday before drawing conclusions.