A truth commission should be established to handle the legacy of 30 years of conflict, the chairman of the North's Policing Board has proposed.
Prof Desmond Rea, backed by Mr Denis Bradley, his deputy, also suggested an amnesty for those involved in more than 30 years of violence.
However, families of the dead and injured have questioned what good would flow from their proposals.
Prof Rea, who revealed his plan yesterday on BBC Radio Ulster, said a new truth commission could help address the unsolved cases of 1,800 victims and prove more useful than a series of judicial inquiries.
The Bloody Sunday inquiry, under the chairmanship of Lord Saville, has heard evidence from more than 900 witnesses over 400 sittings at a cost expected to top £150 million (€223 million). Pressure is building for further inquiries into state collusion with loyalist paramilitaries, the Claudy bombing, Bloody Friday and the La Mon bombing of 1977.
Prof Rea believes an agreed forum holds out the prospect of "closure" in many cases which, at present, have no hope of settlement. He called on the governments in Dublin and London to draw up a plan to establish a commission with the backing of the relatives of the dead and injured.
He said: "There are people on both sides who have lost lives. There are people who have been injured, and there is a deep sense of hurt. Therefore a commission is the proper way to take into account that hurt, but also to seek to find a way forward that is a more productive way forward than the road that we appear to be embarking."
Both Prof Rea and Mr Bradley insisted they were speaking in personal capacities and as independent members of the North's Policing Board. But it is known that their views coincide with remarks by Mr Hugh Orde, the Chief Constable, who has admitted there is little hope that 1,800 outstanding cases involving loss of life during 30 years of conflict will ever be closed.
Prof Rea made it clear that the proposals should not prejudice calls for inquiries into the murders of Pat Finucane, Robert Hamill, Rosemary Nelson and Billy Wright, which were the subject of investigations by Judge Peter Cory.
He has recommended further inquiries into their murders, but the British government has still to publish his reports.
Mr Michael Gallagher, whose son Aidan was murdered in the Omagh bombing, doubted if such a commission would benefit the bereaved. "I know the people that I am involved with would gain very little from going into the room with the perpetrators and listening to their reasons for their actions," he said.
Ms Beth McGrath, who lost her father and sister in the Shankill bomb in 1993, also harbours doubts. "I would be concerned for the victims' families who are then left with this information and are supposed to feel better."
Political parties reacted with caution. The SDLP said a mechanism was needed to help society move away from the past.
However, Mr Alex Attwood said any commission proposed should not absolve Mr Tony Blair from his obligation to investigate cases as advised by Judge Cory.