Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT has published changes to its legislation on handling legacy cases dating back to the Troubles in the Northern Ireland.
The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill proposes providing immunity for people accused of crimes during the Troubles if they co-operate with a new truth recovery body known as the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR).
It would also halt future civil cases and inquests linked to killings during the conflict.
The bill is currently at the report stage in the House of Lords in Westminster.
Amendments announced by Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris include stopping criminal investigations and court processes for legacy cases on 1 May 2024 to “ensure a smooth transition” to the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery taking on full responsibility for dealing with those cases.
They also include placing the ICRIR under a duty to offer victims and their families the opportunity to submit personal impact statements, placing it under a new duty to secure information around assessing the truth of an applicant for immunity’s account, and the revocation of immunity if an individual is subsequently convicted of terrorism offences.
The fine for non-co-operation with the ICRIR is to increase from £1,000 to £5,000.
The amendments also include confirming that the Commissioner for Investigations must comply with obligations imposed by the Human Rights Act 1998, a duty on the ICRIR to publish a statement explaining how each review was conducted as part of its final report and a duty to produce guidance around determining a request for immunity.
The bill has been opposed by almost all political parties, the Irish Government and victims groups.
Heaton-Harris described “significant amendments that directly address a number of key concerns raised by interested parties”.
“This includes amendments on the conduct of reviews, compliance with Convention Rights, the independence of the Commission, conditional immunity, and ongoing legal processes,” he said.
“We remain absolutely committed to making legislative progress so that the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) can be established, and begin delivering better outcomes for those most affected by the Troubles, as swiftly as possible.”
However, victims campaigner Raymond McCord said the government is just “tinkering around the edges” and the only acceptable move would be scrapping the bill.
He described the bill as “disgraceful” and “disgusting”, accusing the UK Government of “walking on the graves of our murdered family members”, adding victims will consider legal action if the bill goes ahead.
He has urged Northern Ireland political leaders to meet with victims today.
“This is not about politics or sectarianism, its about the Conservatives whitewashing the murders of the Troubles of the people who matter most to us, our innocent murdered family members,” he said.
“We victims are battling and fighting to stop this, we need action from every political individual in the country.
“Talking is done. Stand together with us.”
Amnesty International slammed the amendments as “doing nothing to address the fundamental flaws with the bill”.
Grainne Teggart, Amnesty International UK’s Northern Ireland deputy director, said “no-one is fooled by these changes”.
“The government is still clearly intent on denying victims their basic rights and pressing ahead with a bill only it wants,” he said.
“The amendments follow the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers issuing a resolution expressing their serious concern about the bill’s compatibility with the government’s human rights obligations.
“It’s time the government halted the passage of this profoundly unjust bill through Parliament and instead committed to an agreed way forward to deal with the legacy of the Troubles that protects and prioritises victims.”
Relatives for Justice NIO responded saying the amendments “only makes the situation worse”.
“The rights of victims and survivors will be permanently shut down, especially those engaged in inquests. The bill incentivises state tactics to delay progress of inquests,” they said.
Sinn Fein MLA Gerry Kelly described the amendments as “fundamentally flawed” and will “slam the door shut” to due process for victims.
He said the proposed new timeframe for concluding inquests of May 2024 will deny many families this opportunity, pointing to the backlog in disclosure by the PSNI and the lack of resources for this work.
“This amendment is particularly cruel as expectations had been raised among families that once inquests had been opened that they would be concluded,” he said.
“Similarly families will be denied legacy and Police Ombudsman investigations which are similarly being closed down by May 1 next year.
“These cases will be instead transferred to a new Commission, the ICRIR, whose powers will be limited to reviews rather than Article 2 investigations as required under human rights legislation.”
He added: “This Bill is being rushed through both Houses to become law in six to seven weeks time before Parliament goes into recess on July 26.
“It is a travesty, a perversion of the legal process and with the objective of ending citizens’ rights to access due legal process.”
Earlier the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers in Strasbourg adopted an Interim Resolution which “strongly reiterated” its calls upon the UK to reconsider the conditional immunity scheme in light of concerns expressed around its compatibility with the European Convention on Human Rights.
Tánaiste and Minister of Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin welcomed the move by the Council of Europe.
“It is a matter of regret to my government that the Legacy Bill continues its legislative progress without the support of political parties in Northern Ireland, and without support from families, victims’ groups or civil society,” he said.
“I believe that, by providing for amnesties for crimes amounting to gross human rights violations, the bill, if enacted, would undermine rather than assist reconciliation.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
That’s right, now hand it over to KPMG.
Irish Nationwide’s fine auditors.
So that they can shred all the dodgy paperwork.
Thats the scary part..they just put KPMG in charge of whats left of Anglo who is currently after Quinn. Talk about a recipe for Disaster. while I don’t have any love for Quinn or the quinn group did not journalist go and ask quinn what he thought of prom night or is he rubbing his hands together Mr Burns style…excellent….
The fox is in charge of the hen house. Surely kpmg are being investigated for for possible criminal practice, never mind civil actions for the apparent incompetent manner in which the audited the books, and they have now been given control of, not just the evidence, but decisions to further civil actions.
We need to look at the possibility of corruption here, incompetence is unbelievable.
I can actually smell the bullshit gloating down my broadband line Michael ,
Nobody believes a word U say
Even if its true theyll be sorted with another job in a week or two.
Sean
I presume the “Michael” you were referring to is Mr Noonan and your point is that he is somehow pleased that the CEO of the IBRC is to receive only Statutory redundance levels. What sort of sense is there in that comment ?
500 grand a year he was on …he won’t go hungry.
Given that they squandered hundreds of millions of our money, they should be behind bars instead of Paul Begley.
With Paul Begley I would think
Yeh but statutory minimum could half a million p.a. With a hefty pension
If you believe he gets two weeks pay off then Im daffy duck.
Such Bull. I suppose you will be calling for all redundant workers to get the statutory minimumnext
What are you on about. My point is his statutory minimum will be far higher than you or i.
Les
Goodbye and hello Daffy!
The piece outlines that the statutory amount is capped at €600 per week, meaning his statutory minimum termination payment is €3,600.
As regards his statutory notice period: Aynsley has been working at IBRC since 2008, meaning he is entitled only to two weeks’ notice (or pay in lieu of his notice) of termination. This would work out at around €19,200.
Diseased Snake Pit.
The Decaying, Pestilence Ridden, Stinking, Zombie, Corpse Of Anglo and Irish Nationwide.
Thanks to our “Fine Governments” This €55 Billion Stink Will Remain With Us For a Half A Century if Not Longer.
Europuppet Stoogeens!!
@ Les
Its capped at 600 per week at 2 weeks per year of service. This is the law. They will not be paid anymore.
Fully aware what it is Orion. But with such a state this countries in and the fact there’s something New everyday, it wouldn’t surprise ye if they got a massive pay off.
What the piece fails to mention is that while Noonan is spinning it as these senior managers will get the same as the other staff..2 weeks per year and patting himself on the back the reality is that the 600+ normal workers who were not on stupid salaries over 100k and were promised 4 weeks per year if they stayed until IBRC was wound down are only getting 2 weeks instead of the promised 4 that was agreed. So they will lose out more than any of these managers, while the figures look huge for the managers the publics perception is great stuff no big pay-offs for the fat cats, the reality is no little pay-offs for the innocent everyday staff.
Severance pay???
This €55 Billion Filth Hole should have been allowed to go bust from day 1.
There are Millions people in our country more deserving of this taxpayer money.
Id say Les you will be hugely dissapointed if they only get the minimum.
That’s what the law says, but what about his contract? We’ve seen all these dodgy contracts before. If he just gets statutory it will be an historic first.
Surprised yes disappointed no Sean.
@censored
It will not be a historic first as you put it. Evertime a company is put into liquidation everday in this country, then all employment contracts are void. There is no room for secret pay-offs or anything like that. The law is there, KPMG are hardly going to break the law at their own cost, are they?
Not at their own cost. I would love to see a committee of inspection put in place representing the creditors, to insure a fair winding up is carried out in the interest of the creditors.
The committee are paid by the creditors, and meet the receiver once a month to review his work and authorise expenditure, as well as having access to all his work
I bet his pension will be tweaked and fortified so that he doesn’t lose out, and with some quickly created add on special input accumulator processes he comes out on top.
Nice to see The Republic’s Biggest Mistake Ever coming to an abrupt end for the overpaid ‘top dogs’.
Fair play to Aynsley, he’s probably a decent guy and was hired into the moronic set-up.
I question Alan Dukes suitability as Chairman if he couldn’t see from the start that this was a doomed money train for a pointless purpose that could be wrapped up with the stroke of a pen.
I’m not convinced this was the right move by the goverment, ofc it was a popular move as shown but I can see this causing issues down the line, with court case’s againest some major players like Quinn ect in the works rocking the cradle like this could cause issues in the long run, vital info lost or something overlooked or misplaced. I know its sounds like a conspiracy theroy but time will tell, I could see the whole quinn fiasco blowing up in the goverments faces and guess who will have to repay everything back to quinn if its shown there was negligence in the state’s dealings with Quinn and company.
@ Derek Boyle, excellent point unfortunately. The individual in charge if the entire Quinn and other related litigation declined the offer of staying on as a consultant and immense knowledge is now lost. My primary concern is that this development greatly diminishes the prospect of partial recovery from the Quinns. From a litigation perspective, it was a less than ideal move.
There may be other costs and losses which will swallow up more than the eur 8 billion, not 20 billion saved and that is not to mention the danger of protracted deflationary consequences.
I remain unconvinced that this was a sensible and prudent move. Only time will tell but there are no winnings yet on this to be banked, if you will pardon that expression.
Good riddance to fat cats. They squandered hundreds of millions of OUR money following QUinn when the legitimacy of the debt has yet to be ruled on. And to think that all of this could have been avoided if the Quinn Proposal which would have saved thousands of jobs and paid the State 2.8billion euros, had not been inappropriately discarded. You could not make this up and its no wonder that Martina Devlin mixes up fact and fiction.
Peter, IBRC has control of Quinn assets and companies in the UK, Ireland, Poland, Turkey, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Sweden, Cyprus as well as some assets in Ukraine and Russia. In addition they have control of the Quinn Group and own 49% of Liberty Insurance. I am sure even IBRC can get a “partial” recovery with all these assets.
@ Tom, the new legislation is potentially vulnerable to three Constitutional law challenges and one procedural weakness. Add to this the fact that the leader of the recovery group has left. That loses a lot of legacy knowledge. I am partially reassurd that you are so confident and I truly hope that my apprehensions are misplaced. We will see.
i see rusty9 is STILL peddling the bullshit that the quinn proposal was “inappropriately discarded”….the facts admitted by Sean Quinn himself are that he had done wrong in handling funds in the insurance company and had to rightly step down as chairman of quinn insurance as a result….it is inconceivable that the state could then have agreed to allow him re take control , get significant additional funding given to the group and not pay intereest for 8 years on the promise that they could repay the 2bn due – which of course he now claims is not his debt anyway- but he was willing to repay it in FULL…..seriously you have got to stop peddling that nonsense….its just not credible.
We know what they are entitled to but what will they get?
Eric
They will get what the Minister and the Law permits. Are you suggesting that the administer is lying and will break the Law?
You might say that, but I could not possibly comment.
He might make a new law?
Kpmg told us , a short few days before the collapse, that’ll was ok in Nationwide, they should never have been appointed.
Interesting to see what these people are entitled to. Compare this with failed politicians who lose their seats or resign them. That’s ENTITLED.
Good point
yippee dippy doo dah… big swinging meeehaul..! are we sposed to be consoled by that michael noonan??
I think you’ll find he was answering a question so I don’t he gave much consideration to your need for consolation…
it was rhetorical on my behalf ciaran
Sounds like there’ll soon be a new highest earning portner in KPMG.
I want to see the people who corruptly/criminally ran Anglo and Irish Nationwide in Jail,
along with Denis Casey and Gillian Bowler from PTSB and all the other Schiesters in PTSB, BOI, AIB, EBS.
I want to see the bosses from Ulster Bank and all the other foreign banks prosecuted and jailed for their acts of financial terrorism against the Irish People.
Then this private debt from these private criminal organizations must be written off.
Do yess not believe the minister
Of course they will
Am i the only person who believes that the fat cats in Anglo should recieve no payment for been made redundant.It was only a few weeks ago that the chairman defended the high wages of staff in the bank as they were winding down the bank annd were in his words the only group of employees that were making themselves redundant,So why should we the tax payer have to now stump up a redundancy package for people who were earing obscene wages in a bankrupt bank that we paid to rescue and who knew that they were eventually making themself redundant….
Fair enough Michael ….but what will super Mario say ?
have your say