British seen tinkering with Legacy Act

The new London government is making a small change to controversial Tory cover-up legislation by dropping its appeal against a court ruling removing the immunity for British war criminals and others who co-operate with its ‘truth’ process.

The move was announced by the current British Direct Ruler Hilary Benn on Monday.

All of the political parties in the north of Ireland and all of the organisations which support victims of the conflict, other than British Army veterans, have opposed the ‘Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act’.

Branded the ‘Bill of Shame’, the legislation offered conditional immunity from prosecution for conflict-era offences.

But in February, the immunity provision and other elements of the legislation were found to be incompatible with European human rights laws and Britain’s own Human Rights Act.

In a programme for government delivered by King Charles two weeks ago, the new Labour administration vowed to repeal and replace the legislation.

Sinn Féin’s Gerry Kelly said that London needs to deliver on that commitment and implement the legacy mechanisms agreed ten years ago in the Stormont House Agreement.

“Since the Legacy Act was first introduced, state bodies have continued to hide information from families to cover up the British government’s shameful actions in Ireland and to protect their soldiers and agents.

“The shutting down of legacy inquests and investigations have already had a very real and human impact on families.”

He welcomed the fact that inquests halted by the imposition of the Legacy Act would be resumed and that families who lost loved ones during the conflict would once again have access to the criminal and civil courts.

“However, the ICRIR, which the current government wants to retain, does not have the confidence of most victims and survivors and it doesn’t have the powers it needs to deliver truth.”

A spokesperson for Republican Sinn Fein said the legislation “remains futile” and had caused major anxiety for victims who had been promised the act would be scrapped, not tweaked.

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said the Tory administration had no support for its “attempt to shut down access to truth and justice”.

“We now need a process that puts victims and survivors first – the SDLP will work with every party and with the secretary of state to make that happen,” he said.

Justice campaigner Ciaran MacAirt, whose grandmother was killed in the McGurk’s Bar Massacre in 1971, described the news as a “sleight of hand” by the new administration in London

“Denial, delay, discrimination and death has been the constant British strategy to [not] deal with the legacy of Britain’s war crimes in Ireland.

“This attempt at window-dressing is no different.”

Urgent Appeal