FAMILIES of victims of the conflict have heard that if a new legacy body existed five years ago that many cases of 'collusion and wrongdoing' that have been laid at the door of the British state would not now be known.
Organised by Relatives for Justice and the Pat Finucane Centre, a conference took place at St Comgalls on Divis Street on Saturday to address relatives’ concerns.
It focused on calls for the Secretary of State Hilary Benn to scrap the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR), which victims' groups maintain is deeply flawed and not human rights' compliant or independent.
The Legacy Act and ICRIR has overwhelmingly been rejected by victims and survivors from all backgrounds including by domestic and international human rights organisations.
While in opposition, the British Labour Party pledged to “repeal and replace” the Legacy Act including the ICRIR. However, the new Labour government is now insisting that the ICRIR will remain.
Families at the conference
Speaking after the conference, Mark Thompson from Relatives for Justice said: "Families wanted more information about the ICRIR and what it means for their case. It is important to distill it down.
"The reality is that if the Legacy Act and ICRIR had have been around five or six years ago, we would not have had so many reports that exposed collusion and wrongdoing.
"The Legacy Act will be shut down and will be replaced by an ICRIR. Families won't be legally represented or be able to interrogate the evidence and none of it will be public.
"Anything of a sensitive nature like collusion or involves the state will have to be submitted for approval by the Secretary of State. The very state that were involved in the loss of so many people's lives.
"The ICRIR will only suppress information that families need. It needs to be scrapped now. It does not have the trust of families and rightly so.
"The reason the Legacy Act and ICRIR exists is because of the success to date in lifting the lid on the awfulness of some atrocities in a dirty war that the British state engaged in.
"I am confident that the truth will always prevail."
