Thank you to our judges for standing up for the law

Irish News, Letters, January 23rd, 2025

I BELIEVE our judges would know a lot more about the law than our current secretary of state, Hilary Benn.

A High Court judge rules that a public inquiry is the only real option for a victim’s family and Hilary Benn appeals against the court’s decision.

The secretary of state doesn’t accept several senior judges’ decisions regarding the ICRIR and public inquiries and he states that the ICRIR is the only way forward for victims.

Have we now arrived at a time where politicians wish to dictate and rule the courts’ decisions instead of the experienced judges?

Surely the secretary of state owes victims’ families and the judges an apology.

There needs to be truth and justice in an open court instead of a closed court with no families permitted or disclosure documents.

On a personal level, its heartening for victims’ families to watch impartial, open courts standing up to the government policy of delay and denial and ruling that the British government’s Legacy Act and ICRIR is incompatible with human rights and inquest investigations are not Article 2 compliant.

Why is the British government, be it Labour or Conservative, so determined to force such hated legislation that is opposed by the vast majority of victims and the judiciary?

Labour, like the Conservative Party, clearly didn’t listen to the victims.

A thank you to our judges.

Raymond McCord, Victims campaigner, North Belfast