Troubles Legacy Bill on verge of becoming law after stand-off ends
The UK's house of lords has ended its stand-off with the British government over the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill, paving the way for the legislation to become law.
It had repeatedly pressed ministers to rethink plans to offer a limited form of immunity to the perpetrators of crimes committed during the Troubles, aimed at encouraging them to share information with a truth recovery body.
The Bill, which would establish an Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery, would also prevent future civil cases and inquests into offences committed during the 30 years of conflict.
The Bill is opposed by all political parties in Northern Ireland, victims groups, and the Government.
But peers relented in their opposition to the Bill, after Northern Ireland minister Jonathan Caine reminded them that the House of Commons had twice rejected attempts at reforming it.
He said: “They have done so and have very decisively answered on both occasions with overwhelming majorities.
“I would respectfully hope therefore that your lordships now agree to this Bill being passed over one year and two months since I first introduced it.”
Labour frontbencher Paul Murphy of Torfaen, who previously led efforts to amend the Bill, called on the UK government to pause the legislation until power sharing was restored at Stormont.
The former Northern Ireland secretary told peers: “It has no support effectively whatsoever in Northern Ireland and all my experience over the years in Northern Ireland is that where there is no support from all communities in Northern Ireland for a Bill such as this, it will not work.
“I think there should have been consensus. I think the Government now should put the Bill on hold, put it on ice if you like. Wait until there is a restored assembly and a restored executive.”
The Tánaiste had that he had also asked the UK Government to pause the Bill.
He Martin told RTE: “I have consistently asked the British Government to pause this both at meetings and publicly, because all of the political parties in Northern Ireland are not in favour of this legacy bill, providing an amnesty for people who’ve committed terrible atrocities, and also ruling out inquests and facilities and capacities for people to pursue justice for their loved ones.
“We believe legacy policy should be victim centred. That is our position and we’re going to examine this now in terms of what further responses the Irish Government will take to protect victims and to support victims.”
The Government is also taking legal advice on whether to challenge the Bill in the European Court of Human Rights.
But the Northern Ireland Secretary has suggested no-one has been able to present him with a valid alternative to the Government’s legacy plans.
“Lots of people ranged against the Legacy Bill, but no-one has an alternative for what could possibly replace it, and no-one can tell me that the current situation that has been running for the last 25 years has been satisfactory to the families of victims either,” Chris Heaton-Harris said.
There was a silent protest held against the Legacy Bill outside the Newforge Sports Centre in south Belfast on Monday, where Mr Heaton-Harris met with Taoieach Leo Varadkar and vice-president of the European Commission Maros Sefcovic to announce the new funding scheme.
Alliance Party deputy leader and North Down MP Stephen Farry insisted the UK Government never gave the 2014 Stormont House Agreement a chance, part of which was aimed at tackling the legacy of the Troubles.
He added: “Indeed, it was formally Government policy as recently as January 2020 within the New Decade New Approach agreement. Within a few weeks, the Government had performed a handbrake turn. Their Legacy Bill was driven by internal Conservative politics and perceptions of what veterans wanted rather than the best interests of Northern Ireland.
“It is questionable if this new system will work, never mind achieve the results the Government have mooted. Furthermore, the forthcoming act will likely become subject to numerous legal challenges.”
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