Michelle O’Neill ‘wants access to truth and justice for all bereaved families’

Northern Ireland’s First Minister has stressed she wants to see access to truth and justice for all those bereaved during the region’s troubled past.

Michelle O’Neill was challenged in the Stormont Assembly by a DUP MLA over what he termed a “perceived hierarchy of victims”.

The exchange came as Ms O’Neill revealed that the competition process to recruit the next Commissioner for Victims and Survivors is to start this autumn.

Former commissioner Ian Jeffers stepped down at the start of January after almost two years in the role.

The office’s responsibilities include ensuring that services for victims of Northern Ireland’s Troubles are fit for purpose.

The appointment process comes as victims’ families legally challenged the setting up of the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR), part of the previous government’s controversial Legacy Act for dealing with the past.

The Act halted running legacy inquests with the ICRIR to become the main vehicle for looking into cases from the past.

The Government last week refused several recommendations for public inquiries into some high-profile Troubles deaths.

A public inquiry was granted into the killing of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane in 1989.

Secretary of State Hilary Benn said last week that the Finucane case was “exceptional” because the UK had committed to holding a public inquiry into the circumstances of the murder as part of an international agreement with the Irish government more than 20 years ago.

Ms O’Neill said the appointment of the next commissioner is “essential to inform the development of policies and to help ensure the longer term needs of victims and survivors are represented by a strong independent voice”.

“We’re keen that a new commissioner is appointed as soon as possible, and as such we’re pleased to inform the chamber that we’ve instructed our officials in the Executive Office to formally proceed with the appointment process,” she told MLAs.

“Officials are now at an advanced stage with the preparations required for the recruitment competition and we anticipate that it will be formally launched in the autumn.

“It is estimated that the process may take a number of months.”

DUP MLA Stephen Dunne pressed Ms O’Neill to agree that all victims should be treated equally and would be entitled to the same access of justice, and there should not be a “hierarchy of victims that many feel has been undertaken in recent weeks”.

Ms O’Neill responded: “I think it’s important that we support all families to get access to truth and justice.

“We can see from the court ruling on Friday that the intention of this Labour Government to go down the route of the ICRIR does not commend support from both the victims and survivor community, human rights organisations and now the courts have also found it to be fundamentally flawed.

“What we need to do is find a way for all families to get access to truth and justice. What we need to do is find a way to help people to heal, and that is different for all different families. We had that once with the Stormont House Agreement, we need to get back to that point again.”

Ms O’Neill commended the Finucane family for securing a public inquiry into the case after campaigning for more than three decades.

“They were due that public inquiry. They have been let down at every turn by successive British governments and I commend Geraldine Finucane for her bravery and her courage to keep going for all of these years, and what I want for the Finucane family, I want for every family,” she added.