Truth or the Courtroom - The never ending conundrum

There was something Kafkaesque about the exchanges on Wednesday between the lawyers involved in the proceedings over the abduction and killing of Caroline Moreland by PIRA in July 1994. The lawyer representing the family said that a statutory tribunal was required at this stage as her rights had been breached under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, while the lawyer representing the British Government argued that any challenge was unsustainable because no decision had been taken yet on whether there should be a tribunal.

Below, Brian Walker asks, So where are we ?

Resumed legal procedures like the Clonoe inquest into the fatal shooting of an IRA team by the SAS  and a court's  recommendation of a public inquiry into the murder of GAA official Sean Brown show pressure on the UK government continuing unabated as it takes its time to produce a reformed Legacy Act.

Other problems abound in framing it,  such as the possibility of ballooning costs with the restoration of civil proceedings.

 In the light of these developments,  Starmer's government seems all the more committed to stiffening the independence of the ICRIR and making it ECHR-proof, rather than replacing it entirely, as  maximalist reformers like the CAJ are demanding; and as John Finucane with his unique authority as the beneficiary of a public inquiry may also prefer, although his position is not entirely clear.

The basic problem is the persistent  corrosive mistrust of the government's motives and its intentions among nationalists and radical legal reformers.

They will argue that history and  ongoing revelations of state partiality give them adequate grounds for their mistrust.

On the other hand, unionists accuse them of waging " lawfare," the continuation of the struggle through legal means, ignoring the gross culpability of the IRA. 

Some consolation for the government is to be had, in that the local parties while divided on the legacy policy have not made it a grade one issue of dispute with Westminster, preferring to leave it largely to the victims and family responses, and to the campaigning lawyers.

A recast ICRIR?

I assume there is much going on behind the scenes that we know little about. But whatever form it takes,  we can expect it to lead eventually to a new or reformed Legacy Act which will recast and confirm the ICRIR.

While fateful moments have often been foreshadowed before, this is probably the last chance for this generation  to obtain consent for creating effective accountability for actions on all sides during the Troubles.

Expectations must be managed: they are already in many cases. 

Accountability is never likely to be complete. The commission must at least  be able and willing fearlessly  to expose accountability's limitations.  But wholesale evasion and cover-up will not be acceptable and the ICRIR must call it out.   

One response to a reformed Act is to leave it to the take-up of victims and their families; to the ICRIR and to the commissioning of work on the history of the Troubles from independent reputable authors given wide access to the public record- with the abandonment of  the policy of "neither confirm nor deny " by the authorities. 

Otherwise, the government's  critics will be faced with a basic choice;  either to  wait and discover if the commission can deliver for the victims, or to call on them to boycott the ICRIR. I suspect most would draw back from the latter.

Will it be another unilateral act by the UK government? Or will it meet with the grudging acceptance of the local parties and Dublin, who will have to be briefed and consulted? We wait and see.

Brian Walker, London

Yesterday’s session of the Northern Ireland Executive Office Committtee’s

meeting with Victims representatives and the ICRIR can be viewed at the link below

The meeting with Mark Thompson of Relatives for Justice and Raymond McCord, whose son Raymond Junior was killed by the UVF begins at 22 minutes.57seconds into the recording and ends at 1 hour.27 minutes.

The session with the ICRIR begins at 1 hour and 34 minutes, concluding at 2 hours and 45 minutes. Evidence is given by Sir Declan Morgan, Chief Commissioner, Peter Sheridan, Commissioner for Investigations and Ms Warde Hunter, Chief Executive.

Our thanks to Raymond McCord for forwarding the link to us.

https://niassembly.tv/committee-for-the-executive-office-meeting-wednesday-26-february-2025/

Victims Solicitor says Ombudsman’s report on paramilitary shooting 35 years ago is basis for public inquiry

Connla Young, Crime and Security Correspondent, Irish News, February 26th, 2025

Concerns have been raised after the Police Ombudsman said it cannot be established if a police and MI5 agent admitted killing IPLO member Eoin Morley in Newry in April 1990.

The Irish People’s Liberation Organisation (IPLO) was an off-shoot of the INLA, which rivalled the IRA.

In a report published yesterday, after an initial referral 20 years ago, Marie Anderson’s office concluded it is not possible to say if two RUC Special Branch officers were present when the admission was made by a man identified as Person A.

The ombudsman had been investigating after a referral from the PSNI linked to claims Person A admitted killing Mr Morley during a botched paramilitary-style shooting.

The report, which has not been made public, is the second connected with the Morley killing, with the first published in 2005.

Solicitor Kevin Winters, of KRW Law, who acts for Mr Morley’s mother Eilish, said the long-awaited report is “absolutely enlightening in a number of important respects”.

“The debrief by an MI5 officer and officers of the RUC Special Branch concerned an admission by an agent who was jointly run by the two agencies,” he said.

“Man A was involved in Eoin’s killing but he wasn’t recruited as an agent until March 1992 just a short time before the killing of [RUC constable] Coleen McMurray in Newry.

“This in turn endorses our previous repeated calls for a thematic approach by PONI into the investigation of police failings on all south Down PIRA killings and attempted murders during the conflict.”

Previous investigations requested

Mr Winters said he has previously asked for investigations linked to south Down to be joined up.

“We repeatedly asked for a linked investigation by PONI to look at the killing of Mrs McMurray and other cases together with the Morley case but for reasons that remain unclear that never happened,” he said.

The report confirms Person A was jointly ‘debriefed’ by MI5 and RUC Special Branch in mid-March 1992.

He had been identified as a potential informer by the RUC the previous year.

Solicitor Kevin Winters acts for Eoin Morley’s mother Eilish

In May 2005, three months after the first Police Ombudsman’s report was published, the PSNI received information that Person A had admitted to MI5 and PSNI officers that he shot Mr Morley. That allegation was referred to the ombudsman and a criminal investigation was launched.

It was focused on a ‘note or file’ compiled by an MI5 officer in March 1992. In that document the official recorded that Person A had disclosed to him that he shot Mr Morley during a struggle. It was also noted that the same admission was repeated in the presence of two RUC officers. Both police officers were interviewed under caution but neither recalled any disclosure being made by Person A in relation to Mr Morley’s murder.

A file was later submitted to the Public Prosecution Service.

A no prosecution decision was taken in relation to one officer, while the other died before the PPS direction.

Mr Winters said he believed there is now a “basis for a request to Hilary Benn for a public inquiry into the role of the state when infiltrating south Down PIRA during this period of the Troubles”.

Police Ombudsman Marie Anderson said her investigation was “exhaustive”, while Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson said “now take time to consider the report in full.”

It was previously known that former IRA man Peter Keeley, also known as Kevin Fulton, had infiltrated the republican movement in 2017 an alleged leaked document suggested that a second police informer was working at a senior level within the IRA in south Down in the 1990s.

The sensitive report also revealed details about an IRA mortar attack that claimed the life of Constable McMurray in Newry in March 1992.

The officer’s family was later provided with a copy of a Police Ombudsman’s report into the circumstances of her death.

However, a second, unauthorised but more detailed document, later surfaced.

It is understood this document refers to the second informer, who is referred to by code.

Hardline republicans removed after disrupting third policing meeting this week

By Caoimhe Quinn McCullough, Irish News, February 27, 2025

A protest was held at a similar ‘community engagement’ event in the Kilwilkee area of Lurgan earlier this month.

Protesters were removed tonight from a community engagement meeting by PSNI officers in Co Armagh.

Hardline republicans gathered at the Craigavon Civic and Conference Centre, where a Policing and Community Safety Partnership (PCSP) meeting was taking place.

The group were initially denied entry for having flags and banners, which they were told are not allowed in the building.

One argued that as it was a public meeting, “we have every right to go in”, stating that they wished to “peacefully protest” and read a statement before leaving their props outside.

“Whilst this event will be publicised as a community engagement event, we stress that any opposition we express is not directed towards any legitimate organisation but solely towards the crown forces and their draconian actions,” they said.

Outlining why the event should be cancelled, they cited links between the PSNI and MI5.

Midway through the statement, the meeting chairperson asked for the protesters to be removed. A short scuffle ensued between the group and the PSNI officers, before the spokesperson was forcibly removed from the venue.

The group gathered outside to continue the protest, unfurling the banners and flags before leaving.

A Lord Mayor’s reception was also underway in the building at the time, hosting a one-wall handball team.

A protest was held at a similar “community engagement” event in the Kilwilkee area of Lurgan earlier this month.

Two meetings linked to the PSNI were disrupted in Belfast earlier this week.

On Monday, members of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement (32 CSM) and Saoradh disrupted a Policing and Community Safety Partnership (PCSP) meeting at St Comgall’s in west Belfast.

The following day members of Saoradh, some wearing masks, also disrupted a similar PCSP gathering at Girdwood Hub in north Belfast.

Decision of British Govt to talk with Paramilitary groups throws Stormont into disarray

Andrew Madden, Belfast Telegraph, February 25th, 2025

A plan by the two governments to potentially engage with paramilitaries to encourage them to disband does not have the endorsement of the Executive Office, the First Minister has said.

Michelle O'Neill appeared to distance Stormont from the plan — despite it giving hundreds of thousands of pounds to paramilitary-linked community groups over the years, prompting the SDLP's Matthew O'Toole to describe the stance as “somewhat rich”.

Earlier this week the Independent Reporting Commission recommended London and Dublin appoint an “independent person to scope out” a possible process of engagement.

Secretary of State Hilary Benn told Parliament that process was under way.

He also said there will be “no financial offer” to paramilitary groups “or to the individuals involved in them in exchange for an end to violence and ongoing harms”.

Justice Minister Naomi Long blasted the plan as “madness”.

First and Deputy First Ministers say it doesn’t have were asked yesterday about the proposal.

The First and Deputy First Ministers were asked yesterday about the proposal.

“This is very much a two-government initiative. It doesn't have our endorsement,” Ms O'Neill said.

“It's not something that they have formally put to us as a proposal, so in terms of where it goes to, they really have to speak to that.

“I think we've both made our views known in terms of our own opinions around that, and we will express those to both governments.

“Whatever initiative or approach that the two governments take, it's very important that these groups don't have their existence prolonged because of some creative process or they cannot be financially rewarded for leaving the stage.”

Ms Little-Pengelly said: “In terms of paramilitarism, we want to build a peaceful society, one in which everybody can thrive, that everybody is free from threat or violence. That's a determination that we have. We will work with PSNI and I will work with others to do so.

“I've always said that I am prepared to step forward and to work with anybody who wants to move on to transition towards that more peaceful and settled future. So we will continue to do that.”

The Executive Office has provided groups linked to paramilitaries funding via its Communities in Transition (CIT) scheme, which has paid out £20m

While its core objective is to end paramilitarism, a goal of the scheme is to “provide support and legitimate alternatives to allow ex-prisoners/combatants to reintegrate into society and to move away from any affiliation to a group”.

CRJ Ireland and NI Alternatives, which involve former IRA and UVF prisoners, have been tasked under the scheme with rolling out restorative justice projects.

It should be noted many groups involved in CIT projects have no paramilitary links.

In 2023 it emerged the Executive Office suspended funding for Action for Community Transformation pending a review after one of its directors was pictured taking part in a memorial parade for a UVF murderer.

Stance of SF and DUP ‘rich’ says SDLP

Mr O'Toole, leader of the opposition at Stormont, said: “The endless transition of paramilitary organisations has clearly created a set of incentives for some paramilitaries to exist in a permanent twilight zone of legitimisation while the gangsterism and coercive control of their organisations goes on, causing destruction in communities across Northern Ireland.

“That racket has to end, so while we all want to see a solution, there is real scepticism of the announcement by the two governments, particularly in the absence of renewed investment for policing and justice.

“It is somewhat rich for the First Minister to wash her hands of the situation given the volume of public money that has flowed from the Executive Office to fund endless transition over the years, while we continue to see Executive ministers engaging with these groups.”

UUP MLA Doug Beattie recently asked the First and Deputy First Ministers if any funding used to help communities transition from paramilitarism was given to groups with links to proscribed organisations and people convicted of terrorist offences.

They replied that individuals working on CIT-funded projects were required to sign a “behaviours framework” confirming they are not engaged in paramilitary activity and will uphold the rule of law.

“The framework also requires that projects and individuals accept no authority, direction or control over activities associated with delivery of the project which have not been agreed with the Executive Office,” they added.

“Past convictions do not rule out involvement in CIT projects provided the behaviours framework is observed, thus no central record of such convictions is held.”

UK Govt ‘has not ruled out’ inquiry into PIRA‘s ‘internal security unit’, says Legacy Lawyer

Freya McClements and Alan Erwin, Irish Times, February 28th, 2025

The UK government has not ruled out an inquiry into killings by the Provisional IRA’s internal security unit (ISU), the solicitor representing the family of one of the victims has said.

Speaking following a court hearing on Wednesday, Kevin Winters said: “The UK government has not ruled out the possibility of an inquiry. Equally, they haven’t ruled it in either.”

He said that no decision had been made, and that the argument made by the UK government was one of timing, that “it needs to be revisited at a later stage, after the final Kenova report is produced”.

The family of Caroline Moreland, a 34-year-old mother of three shot dead by the IRA in 1994 on suspicion of being an informer, has taken a legal challenge against the Northern Secretary in relation to the need for a public inquiry into her murder.

Systemic failings

Ms Moreland’s killing was investigated as part of Operation Kenova, but investigators confirmed to her family that Stakeknife, the British army’s top IRA spy during the Troubles, was not involved in her murder, Mr Winters said.

The Moreland family argues that the circumstances surrounding her killing have not been fully investigated, and that a public inquiry is needed to address wider, systemic failings by the British state to investigate all killings carried out by the unit over a 15-year period.