SDLP MP Colum Eastwood has spoken out as British MPs agreed a procedural motion to postpone legislation on the legacy of the conflict to the next session of the Westminster parliament in London.

The London parliament has continued to push through highly contested legislation. The ‘Northern Ireland Troubles Bill’ is intended to replace the Conservative government’s previous Legacy Act, which included a controversial conditional immunity scheme later ruled unlawful.

The planned new amendments are designed to further protect British killer soldiers from the consequences of their war crimes. Meanwhile, the already established ICRIR, the so-called ‘Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery’, has become scandalised by undisclosed ‘problems’ over its culture and governance.

Mr Eastwood told British MPs of the human cost of the conflict in the North of Ireland, highlighting two of the over 50 children killed by the British state during the conflict.

Paul Whitters, from Belview Avenue, was 15 when he was critically injured after being struck by a plastic bullet fired by an RUC man during rioting in Great James Street on Wednesday, April 15, 1981. He died ten days later.

“I was at an event on Friday in my constituency for the 45th anniversary of the death of a boy called Paul Whitters, who was 15 years old when he was shot in the head by a police officer and died. It was a very moving event,” Mr Eastwood said.

“His family were there and his mother had come home from Glasgow - she had had to leave, of course, after all that heartache and pain,” Mr Eastwood told MPs.

The former SDLP leader stressed the scale of British state involvement in child killings during the conflict.

“All I ever hear from certain quarters of this House is about [British Army] veterans and organisations that are lobbying, and about votes and backbenchers and all that stuff, but I want people to think about those children,” he said.

He raised the case of Stephen McConomy, who was 11 years old and wearing his Confirmation jumper when he was shot in the back of the head by a British soldier using a plastic bullet round in Fahan Street on Friday, April 16, 1982. He died three days later.

“Stephen McConomy, whose family I know very well - they are decent, hard-working people - was 11 years old when he was shot and killed by a soldier in 1982.

“The people who went to try and comfort Stephen and see if he was okay were told that they would be shot as well.”

Mr Eastwood referred to the handling of the aftermath of Stephen’s killing, including the limited questioning of the soldier who murdered him.

“Six months after that, the RUC and the British Army came to Stephen McConomy’s house, and Bishop Daly said at the time that they were in the house longer than the time they took to interview the soldier who killed Stephen.

“Again, he was 11 years old,” he said.

Mr Eastwood said the families of all victims, regardless of who was responsible, deserved truth and accountability.

“Do not tell me to draw a line under the past,” he said.

The family of one victim have spoken out this week about the ordeal they endured in the aftermath of his killing, nearly four decades after he was shot dead.

Charlie McGrillen (pictured), a 25-year-old Catholic trade union official, was murdered by a loyalist death squad while working at Dunnes’ Stores in south Belfast on March 15, 1988. He lived with his wife Catherine McGrillen and their young daughter Charlene McGrillen at nearby Hatfield Street off the Ormeau Road. This week would have marked what should have been his 65th birthday.

With the support of Relatives for Justice, the family have produced a detailed report outlining both the circumstances of his murder and the hostile treatment they received from the state in its aftermath.

According to the report, when Catherine McGrillen attended an RUC base with her mother and brother to report threats, they were fingerprinted and “treated like criminals rather than victims.”

The family recall that there was “no sympathetic concern for them, and the letter was not treated seriously,” while a further threatening letter sent to the bereaved widow was not properly investigated.

The intimidation extended beyond official interactions. Graffiti “making fun” of Mr McGrillen’s murder was daubed on a wall before being removed by neighbours.

Inside the home, the grief was profound and long-lasting. In an effort to protect their young daughter from the reality of what had happened, Charlene was told that her father was unwell and had “gone to heaven to get his medicine, where he would stay.”

“Charlene spent some time thinking that her daddy would come back eventually and got very upset when she realised this was not the case,” the report states. “She cried for days after that.”

For the McGrillen family, the years since have been marked not only by bereavement, but by what they describe as an ongoing struggle for truth, accountability, and recognition.

Like many other bereaved families across Ireland, they have rejected the British government’s discredited legacy structures, including the ICRIR, over its lack of accountability and independence.

Irati Oleaga of Relatives for Justice said the impact of the killing has been felt across generations.

“The family have spent years seeking truth and accountability. That pursuit has been repeatedly frustrated - most recently when the Police Ombudsman accepted the case under its ‘grave and exceptional’ policy, only for that investigation to be shut down by the Legacy Act,” she said.

She added that families are increasingly forced to take responsibility for uncovering the truth themselves.

“In the absence of any effective, human rights-compliant process, families are being left to do this work themselves - documenting the truth, preserving memory, and continuing their fight for justice,” she said.