A report published today has called for cross-party talks within the next year in Northern Ireland on how to deal with the legacy of the Troubles.
The report by the government-appointed Commission for Victims and Survivors released in Belfast said there was an urgent need to deal with the fallout from the decades of conflict.
The three-member panel noted how the recently released Saville Inquiry report had helped heal the wounds of Bloody Sunday but warned that thousands of other bereaved relatives deserved answers on the loss of their loved ones.
Commissioner Brendan McAllister said that government was duty-bound to help Northern Ireland move from its present phase of “conflict management”, to a position where true reconciliation was possible.
“The Commission firmly believes that we must deal urgently with the legacy of the conflict,” he said. “Many victims and survivors have waited for many years for answers and assistance, many have died without having their needs met and for many more, their needs have been exacerbated as they age.
“We believe government and society has a duty of care to these individuals, families and communities. The Commission believes that political and civil leaders must be engaged to agree a way forward.
“Current arrangements do not meet the needs of victims and survivors. There is a need for mechanisms which are designed from the ground up in Northern Ireland and which are capable of building confidence across the community,” he said.
The Troubles claimed more than 3,600 lives, with the violence hitting communities across Ireland, in Britain and, on occasions, overseas.
The report recommended a design process on ways to deal with the past which should run between November 2010 and April 2011 and aim to reach a cross-party agreement. The new arrangements should be in place by the Autumn of 2011.
The commission’s report added: “While the past is over and history cannot be unlived or undone, there is a difference between the past and the legacy of the past.
“It is as if the Troubles were a volcano which erupted for over 40 years and the after-effects are like trails of lava which still flow into the present and towards the future, affecting the whole of the social environment of a society which is otherwise focused on its own recovery and a widely held desire to ‘move on’.”
The document made a series of recommendations including:
* The possibility of forming a new agency to subsume the police Historical Enquiries Team and part of the Police Ombudsman’s Office.
* Government should work to the principle that all who are in need, arising from the conflict, should receive help.
* Truth examination should be at the core of new arrangements, whereby events and issues of critical significance from the past, can be carefully examined.
The commission said calls for a new legal definition of a victim, which unionist politicians in particular want to see redrafted to exclude paramilitaries, would be difficult to secure agreement on at this time.
An earlier report compiled by a consultative group, led by former Church of Ireland Primate Robin Eames and former Northern Ireland Policing Board vice chair Denis Bradley, had made a series of recommendations. The Eames/Bradley report proposed a “legacy commission” to offer either prosecutions into killings or a system of information recovery, so families could help deal with their loss.
The wide ranging proposals included a controversial suggestion that the next of kin of all those who died, including dead paramilitaries, receive a £12,000 recognition payment.
But while that, and other proposals, failed to secure cross-party support, the Commission for Victims and Survivors today largely backed the thrust of the Eames/Bradley blueprint. The Commission suggested, however, that Northern Ireland parties be encouraged to come-up with their own choice of structures for dealing with legacy issues.
It said public discussion on the Eames/Bradley plans had been dominated by a row over the recognition payments, overshadowing other proposals.
PA