Irish Government ‘won’t be found wanting’ in helping to provide legacy answers
The UK Government announced this week that a public inquiry would be held into the 1989 murder of solicitor Pat Finucane.
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Your support makes all the difference.The Irish Government “won’t be found wanting” in helping to provide answers for families bereaved in the Northern Ireland Troubles, Simon Harris has insisted.
The Taoiseach was speaking following a meeting of the North South Ministerial Council at Dublin Castle and days after the UK Government announced a public inquiry into the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane.
Northern Ireland’s deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly has said the UK Government now has a responsibility to explain why legacy mechanisms set up to investigate other Troubles deaths are “not good enough” for the Finucane family.
Mr Finucane, 39, was shot dead at his family home in north Belfast by the Ulster Defence Association in an attack found by a series of probes to have involved collusion with the state.
Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn announced this week there would be a public inquiry into the killing, following a commitment made at the 2001 Weston Park Agreement.
However, the decision has been criticised by some unionist politicians who have pointed out that the families of many other Troubles victims are still searching for justice.
Mr Harris said that every family bereaved in the Troubles deserves answers and truth.
He also said he believed the new Labour Government is taking the right approach to outstanding legacy cases.
The Irish Government won't be found wanting either in relation to doing everything that we possibly, humanly can to help provide those answers
He added: “We do now have a government in London that has committed to taking a new look, a fresh look to legacy.
“As co-guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement, we are very eager to positively engage with that process.
“Of course there will be truth, reconciliation, answers and justice required on both sides of the border and the Irish Government won’t be found wanting either in relation to doing everything that we possibly, humanly can to help provide those answers.”
Ms Little-Pengelly said more than 1,000 families in Northern Ireland have never had justice for Troubles killings.
She said: “The UK Government cannot escape the reality that to say to those families that this is a system which is fit for purpose for you but not for this particular case does create inequality, it does create that sense there is a hierarchy of victims, that there is a two-tier approach to this issue.
“That has caused hurt and pain, we have heard from some of those families over the last number of days.
“The UK Government has a responsibility to explain to those families why the system they have set out is fit for purpose or good enough to investigate the death of their loved one but not good enough for the Finucane family.
“All families deserve truth and justice, that includes the Finucane family, but everyone should get the equal and same chance to get that truth and justice for the murder of their loved one.”
Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill said it was important not to pit the families of Troubles victims against each other.
She said: “Anybody that lost a loved one in the conflict deserves to have truth and justice, anyone that has lost a loved one deserves to have access to that truth and justice.
“We need to find ways to ensure that is the case.
“I welcome the fact that Labour have rubbished in their very early days the fundamentally flawed legislation which the Tories have brought forward.”
She added: “I think that this needs to be got right once and for all.
“We are 26 years past the Good Friday Agreement, today’s young people are being burdened with yesterday and we need to find a way to once and for all sensitively deal with the past in a way that allows families to get access to what it is that they need.”
Tanaiste Micheal Martin said an agreed approach to deal with legacy needed to be found.
He said: “We have been too long at legacy, there has been too much stop-start.
“What we need to do now collectively and we have committed to work with the British Government to meet the victims’ groups, to hear what they have to say.
“But it can’t be postponed for another couple of years until we get a framework in place.”