I’m determined to deal with past says Hilary Benn
PLATFORM, Irish News, January 18th, 2025 Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
ACKNOWLEDGING and addressing the suffering of victims and survivors of the Troubles was one of the aims of the Good Friday Agreement, but it is all too clear that for many of them and their families this task remains incomplete.
I have met and corresponded with many people who lost loved ones or were injured themselves. They have described to me the trauma they have lived through, made much worse by the lack of answers or acknowledgement of what happened.
And I know that many are rightly angry about the previous UK government’s Legacy Act. In Opposition, we said we would repeal and replace the Act. In government, we remain steadfastly committed to doing so. That work is well underway.
Last month, I began this process with the introduction of a proposed draft remedial order which will remove a number of the Act’s provisions that have been deemed incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights, including ending the widely-opposed immunity scheme and restoring the right to pursue civil cases.
There are complex issues to be worked through, including in relation to legal rulings on interim custody orders, and all of these are now before parliament for scrutiny over the next few months.
I also confirmed that I will restore inquests, starting with those that were previously halted by the Legacy Act, and put in place a fairer disclosure regime like that in public inquiries.
Everybody I have spoken to agrees that there needs to be a means of conducting investigations and of recovering information. And we do now have – for the first time – an independent judge-led commission, responsible for doing both these things.
I am the first to acknowledge that the legislation that established the commission needs to be changed and I appreciate why, after all these years, and given the origins of the Legacy Act, there is scepticism about it.
I know that reforms will be needed to secure the confidence of families. But a growing number of requests for investigations and information are now being made to the commission – over 120 at the last count – and the Northern Ireland Courts have been clear that it has the powers it needs to carry out independent, human rights-compliant investigations.
What’s more, the legislation I will propose will ensure that the commission is, in specific circumstances, able to hold public hearings, take sworn evidence from individuals, and ensure families have effective representation.
One of the advantages of having the commission is that it can quickly get to work. It has a growing team of dedicated investigators, including the former senior investigator at Operation Kenova. The commission also has full police powers to help find answers without the long years of waiting that are often involved with public inquiries, which must establish staff, premises and processes from scratch.
There are a number of families, including the family of Sean Brown, whose inquests were brought to a premature end, and who continue to experience great pain and suffering.
For each of these families, I want to ensure that there is a full, thorough and independent investigation into the death of their loved one as soon as possible.
“I know that reforms will be needed to secure the confidence of families
I urge all those still searching for answers, for justice or for acknowledgement of what happened, to talk to the commission to hear and discuss what they propose – knowing that the government will strengthen it in our forthcoming legislation.
The complexity and sensitivity of dealing with the legacy of the past means trying to build as broad a consensus as possible – as envisaged in the Stormont House Agreement. I am determined – with the help of all interested parties, including the Irish government – to achieve this.
Nothing will ever ease the pain that so many families endure to this day. But we must do all we can to help society in Northern Ireland, which has come such a long way since 1998, to finally begin to heal the terrible wounds of the past and look to a better future together.
Reform of Troubles commission needed to secure trust - Benn
Updated / Saturday, 18 Jan 2025 16:28, BBC
Hilary Benn said: 'I know that reforms will be needed to secure the confidence of families'
The Northern Ireland Secretary of State has said he appreciates why families of some Troubles victims remain sceptical about a new investigatory and truth recovery body.
Hilary Benn said he knows reform of legislation underpinning the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) is required to secure the confidence of bereaved relatives.
The ICRIR was set up by the last UK government, led by the Conservative Party, as part of its contentious Legacy Act.
While the Labour government has vowed to repeal parts of the act, including the contentious offer of conditional immunity for perpetrators of Troubles killings, it has decided to retain the commission.
However, last year the Court of Appeal in Belfast ruled that a government veto power over what sensitive material can be disclosed to families by the commission is incompatible with human rights laws.
The court also found that the work of the commission does not provide victims and their next of kin adequate means to participate in its processes.
Some families, who lost loved ones during the Troubles, have vowed not to engage with the commission
The Appeal Court judges did uphold the operational independence of the commission's structures.
Some families, who lost loved ones during the Troubles, have vowed not to engage with the commission, claiming it lacks the teeth and independence to properly re-examine their cases.
Mr Benn, writing in the Irish News newspaper, insisted he was committed to making changes.
"Everybody I have spoken to agrees that there needs to be a means of conducting investigations and of recovering information," he wrote.
He said: "And we do now have, for the first time, an independent judge-led commission, responsible for doing both these things.
"I am the first to acknowledge that the legislation that established the commission needs to be changed and I appreciate why, after all these years, and given the origins of the Legacy Act, there is scepticism about it.
"I know that reforms will be needed to secure the confidence of families."
Mr Benn said "a growing number of requests" for investigations and information are now being made to the commission.
"Over 120 at the last count, and the Northern Ireland courts have been clear that it has the powers it needs to carry out independent, human rights-compliant investigations," he said.
"What's more, the legislation I will propose will ensure that the commission is, in specific circumstances, able to hold public hearings, take sworn evidence from individuals, and ensure families have effective representation," he added.
Mr Benn said one of the advantages of the commission was that it can quickly get to work, as he noted that its team of investigators was growing.
He said: "The commission also has full police powers to help find answers without the long years of waiting that are often involved with public inquiries, which must establish staff, premises and processes from scratch.
"There are a number of families, including the family of (murdered GAA official) Sean Brown, whose inquests were brought to a premature end (by the Legacy Act), and who continue to experience great pain and suffering.
"For each of these families, I want to ensure that there is a full, thorough and independent investigation into the death of their loved one as soon as possible."
Mr Benn urged those seeking justice and answers to "talk to the commission to hear and discuss what they propose, knowing that the government will strengthen it in our forthcoming legislation".
Mr Benn believes the Sean Browne case should be dealt with by the ICRIR
The Northern Secretary said the "complexity and sensitivity" of dealing with the legacy of the past required a need to "build as broad a consensus as possible".
"I am determined, with the help of all interested parties, including the Irish Government, to achieve this," he said.
He added that "nothing will ever ease the pain that so many families endure to this day".
"But we must do all we can to help society in Northern Ireland, which has come such a long way since 1998, to finally begin to heal the terrible wounds of the past and look to a better future together," he said.
On Thursday, the Court of Appeal in Belfast heard a government bid to overturn a judge's order that a public inquiry be established in the Sean Brown case.
Mr Brown, 61, the chairman of Bellaghy Wolfe Tones GAA club in Co Derry, was ambushed, kidnapped and murdered by loyalist paramilitaries as he locked the gates of the club in May 1997.
No one has ever been convicted of his killing.
In December, High Court judge Mr Justice Humphreys issued an order compelling the government to set up a public inquiry.
Mr Benn is challenging his ruling.
He believes the case should instead be dealt with by the ICRIR.
Please send comments to truthrecoveryireland@gmail.com or padraigyeates@gmail.com
Hilary Benn's latest statement shows his commitment to the ICRIR as the case review body acceptable to victims and families. In doing so, Benn appears to have closed the door on further public inquiries despite the clear recommendation of the High Court in the Sean Brown case . But he has committed to strengthening the authority of the Commission as a result of Appeal Court rulings finding it human rights deficient.
So far so good. But acute problems remain. The elephant in the room is the absence of any mention of "the security veto" in the Secretary of State's statement . Benn's obvious sensitivity to all the other arguments shows he's fully aware of it too, but is not (yet?) prepared to address it head-on. How is the unilateral exercise of the veto "human rights compliant"? Will we have to undergo another series of court challenges to obtain a definition?
Benn's refusal so far to grant a Public Iquiry in the case of Sean Brown's murder, despite a clear High Court recommendation creates a new test of the reforming system. Benn is determined that the long promised, long denied grant of the Public Inquiry into the Finucane case doesn't set a precedent. The ICRIR machinery is adequate for a full investigation, he insists. But with all the well-aired allegations of cover up, we come up straight away against chronic mistrust over the government’s marking their own homework on national security.
The government decided not to appeal against court rulings that sections 46 and 47 of the Legacy Act were not Human Rights compliant. These reject the validity of interim custody orders made after internment from 1971 and made complainants eligible for compensation. However, amazingly, they failed to anticipate the backlash against the idea of a compensation payment to Gerry Adams.
Public perceptions, even beyond unionists won't be helped by the knowledge that Adams' barrister was Lord Hermer who took on the case before he became Attorney General. At a Justice Committee session last week he defended a barrister's right to take on any case regardless of their personal views and declined to confirm he'd been paid £30,000. At Prime Minister’s Questions last Wednesday Keir Starmer interrupted a spiel of criticisms from Kemi Badenoch to highlight the Adams payment issue. The government will " try every conceivable way to block.a payment" said Starmer. So far the only idea is to cap such payments to £1.
The political debate on Legacy Act reforms has some way to come before it satisfies nationalist demands for meeting the essential criteria of the Stormont House Agreement for a fully independent investigations unit and the restoration of a full trial process. But as the victims' take-up of the ICRIR process builds up, slowly, the prospects of at least qualified acceptance of the legislation are reasonable, especially if backed by the Irish government.
Brian Walker
Hilary Benn does not need a commission or the ICRIR, or a Legacy Act. Murder is a crime even in Northern Ireland. We are part of the UK no matter what our political aspirations are and murders here in Northern Ireland should be dealt with in open court with full disclosure, just as murders are dealt with in London, Cardiff and Glasgow.
My son Raymond Jr was murdered over 27 years ago and still has had no inquest due to collusion between the Special Branch and the UVF. That was proven by the Police Ombudsman and accepted by the British government.
Let’s be honest, the British Intelligence services decide what disclosure is given to families, not the courts. Delay and denial by the security agencies, and by successive British governments using the courts to ensure no truth and justice is official political policy.
If anyone has any brains at all they need to ask themselves why there are 3,700 murders yet only 120 requests for ICRIR investigations? Victims’ families don’t fall for the nonsense concocted for political agendas and narratives to deny people justice.
My son and other victims deserve better than more coverups and the ICRIR.
Raymond McCord, father of Raymond McCord Jr murdered by UVF state agents on November 9th, 1997
Whether Hilary Benn’s gambit pays off will depend on how successful the ICRIR is at delivering Legacy investigations quickly that satisfy Victims and Survivors. This also requires buy-in by the Irish Government, not just in terms of formal co-operation but delivery of information on non-state as well as official involvement in Troubles related activity.
Of course some Victims and Survivors will never be satisfied with anything short of their day in court, or a Public Inquiry. The question then is, can these be delivered more rapidly through a restructured ICRIR than our sclerotic justice systems, North and South?
Padraig Yeates, Secretary, Truth Recovery Process
