Ray of Hope letter

Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn says Labour will restore civil cases and inquests and Review ICRIR. Belfast News Letter, May 10th May 2024

Hilary Benn’s commitment to ‘repeal and replace’ the Legacy Act potentially offers one ray of hope in the fallout from the Legacy Act that finally came into full effect last week.

He also put it up to the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) to deliver on its commitments to investigate legacy cases to the utmost and, where possible, deliver sufficient information to the Attorney General, prosecution service, PSNI and coroners to warrant prosecutions where the evidence warrants it.

The Kenova experience shows how difficult a challenge that will be but in realistic terms the ICRIR may represent the best alternative means for keeping cases alive until a British government is elected that is willing to live up to its commitment to provide truth and justice to victims and their families. Hopefully that is only a matter of months away.

Families are entitled to call for public inquiries but the prospects of securing them while the Tories are in power are zilch and the energy that would be expended demanding them might be better spent in ensuring that the ICRIR has sufficient information to test its potential. If it fails to deliver, that will be an added argument for scrapping the entire Legacy Act.

There is no guarantee of course that Benn will be the next Secretary of State for Northern Ireland but it is hard to see a better or more committed candidate on the horizon.

Meanwhile, the Truth Recovery Process CLG will continue to advocate for conditional amnesties as an option to prosecutions where there are people who will not engage with the courts but who are willing to provide information to families through alternative means based on a mediation process.

Realistically, this is the only other viable option left for investigating the vast majority of outstanding legacy cases - if Labour forms the next British government.

But it also requires the Irish government to become far more proactive in addressing the issues rather than contracting out the job to the European Court of Justice in Strasbourg.

It is no coincidence that the inability of the British and Irish governments to agree on a joint approach to addressing the Troubles legacy is now manifesting itself in the dispute over how to handle immigration.

Brexit did not end the need for cooperation on all-island problems, it just made it more difficult.

Padraig Yeates, Secretary, Truth Recovery Process