A NEW study by Queen's University shows the majority of victims and relatives of victims of the Troubles were inadequately compensated.
The new report, conducted by Professor Luke Moffett and Dr Kevin Hearty, highlighted that some victims received as little as £43 for the loss of their loved ones and also found a wide range of biases in the handing out of compensation including:
- Working class victims receiving less compensation as payments were awarded on the basis of earnings.
- Female victims and widowers receiving less, with one husband whose wife was killed being told as his spouse was a housewife, she had 'no monetary value' and therefore wasn't eligible to make a claim.
- A victim who was cohabiting and lost a loved one receiving less than married victims.
- Claims denied or reduced due to false allegations the victims were engaged in 'riotous behaviour' or 'political violence'.
- The Ministry of Defence using compensation as a way to hush up the families of victims.
The report is based on a review of 1,000 compensation payments made between 1966 and 1976, during which around 1,800 people were killed.
Nearly £7 million was paid out in those years, but only loss of income or funeral expenses were covered and there was no payment for bereavement. The study found that 60 per cent of families received under £5,000.
The study found that compensation was even awarded in different amounts to members of the same family, which often added insult to injury and increased the trauma of victims. The study found a number of cases where siblings who were killed in the same incident received vastly different payments.
CONFLICT: A mural paying tribute to the UVF, who were responsible for over 500 deaths during the conflict
In the case of two brothers who were killed in the same incident, the family of one brother who was married received just under £5,000 because he had two children. The other brother who was single with no children was awarded only £112.
Biases against women were prevalent in nearly every single form of payment. One widow who lost her husband was awarded £400 but had £350 deducted for rent arrears and £50 for electricity, leaving her with no money to bury her husband.
In another case involving the murder of Joseph Corr – shot dead by the British army in the Ballymurphy massacre of August 1971 – Joseph's widow received nothing.
Eileen McKeown, daughter of Joseph Corr, recalled in the study the abuse her mother received after her father was falsely reported in the media to have been a gunman.
"Mummy had to go to work after daddy died," she said. "She didn’t get any financial help whatsoever. She didn’t get a widow’s pension, she didn’t get free school uniforms, or free school dinners for us.
"I have no idea how she did it. It was so hard for her. Then mummy had a hard life, I was only nine and there were two kids below me as well as the older ones. There was no compensation paid to my mummy.
"She didn’t even get anything from his workplace other than a letter that came from some Shorts workers not long after daddy died which said ‘May your subhuman husband and his pals rot in hell.’"
CONFLICT: The study found the MoD paid money to families to stop cases going to trial and to avoid embarrassment
Couples who were living together but were not married were also discriminated against and told because of the 1968 Act and 1977 Order they were ineligible, as only spouses could claim.
Shockingly, an internal Ministry of Defence letter in 1975 openly championed the practice of paying families off in order to avoid official embarrassment and the weakening of soldiers' morale.
The letter read: "Settling with bereaved families avoids an admission of liability. It costs less, soldiers are not subjected to sometimes hostile and embarrassing cross examination on the witness stand and publicity is minimised, all of which can benefit army morale."
FAKED: The report found victims were denied compensation based on allegations of 'riotous behaviour'
Compensation guidelines were replaced in later years by improved ones not applicable in incidents that took place before the new scheme came in. Anyone who had already received compensation under an earlier scheme was not entitled to receive another payment.
Study authors are advocating for a new bereavement payment scheme for those who lost family members.
To read the report in full, click here.
