Brian Walker

NI Secretary Hilary Benn The UK government has begun proceedings to replace the Legacy Act introduced by the previous Conservative government which was opposed by all parties in Northern Ireland and the Irish government. The controversial Act halted scores of civil cases and inquests into Troubles deaths. These will now resume. But a new Act will fall short of restoring a full trial process with its own independent international investigations body as some of its critics demanded. The Independent Commission …

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Photo courtesy Pacemaker  Twenty years after it was first recommended, a public inquiry into the  murder of Pat Finucane has been granted at last, as a unique one -off. Hopes  are raised for the exposure of the extent of collusion, “ not just who pulled the trigger but who pulled the strings”  The decision comes at an awkward moment of change in dealing with the past. Labour’s pledge to repeal the Legacy Act is pending. Inquests and civil actions will …

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My there’s a lot going on isn’t there? Even the biggest nutter  for local politics wouldn’t claim our affairs are dominating  consciousness. Just the moment then for the Executive to exploit the holidays and the crowded agenda elsewhere to put the lid on what’s  going on under the surface of the happy image of the Smiling Sisters. Full marks to the Irish News for catching then out. Last Thursday, the Northern Ireland Executive met for the first time since the …

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Thankfully we have a break in elections until 2027.  Mick has carried out his distinctive analysis of  GE24. For all the emotions engendered, it shows how little has changed in the balance of forces in identity politics. In seats, Nationalists 9, Unionists 8, Alliance 1. You mightn’t have noticed but the Unionist share of the  vote was 43% , Nationalists 40%, although both on a record low turnout of 57%. I would only add  a couple of things on this. …

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Solemn commemorations have just been  held on the 50th anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan no warning  bombings which claimed the lives of 34 people  and injured hundreds more. These atrocities were committed by loyalists  in the middle of the UWC  strike in the North which within weeks had overthrown  new  British -Irish structures and the recently formed power sharing Executive.  At the time  the Dublin coalition government which had negotiated the Sunningdale deal the previous  November was strangely passive …

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Chief ICRIR Commissioner Sir Declan Morgan, former Lord Chief Justice  We have just reached a watershed in investigating the Troubles. In a momentous and  highly controversial  development the cumbersomely named Independent Commission on Reconciliation and Information Retrieval (ICRIR) – which I prefer to call the Legacy Commission-  replaces the open court system from today. The impact is huge whether the Commission gets off the ground or not. More than 330 Troubles- related Police Ombudsman cases will not be  go forward. …

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I  thought I’d  rescue a  few memories of my own as a young BBC reporter  from  “comments”, on the fascinating reflections by loyalist  veterans about the UWC Strike hosted by Alan Meban on Slugger video. A couple of BBC anecdotes from the time. The controller Dick Francis and Head of Programmes Ronnie Mason secretly drove up an emergency generator from Dublin in case of a blackout and parked it in the enclosed yard. They felt like the 7th Cavalry riding …

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Chief Constable John Boutcher’s tone was measured but his words were scathing. On the face of it, his three most striking conclusions throw dealing with the past into the melting pot all over again. I want here to deal with the wider implications of the interim Kenova report  on Stakeknife,.    These can be seen already,   in advance of the final version due for publication after the victims and families have responded to their individual private briefings. Firstly the Stakeknife …

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Chief Legacy Commssioner Sir Declan Morgan former  Chief Justice    What does the future hold for Troubles victims and relatives now?  Probably as long a future as ever without resolution, before sliding into history.  You might think the reason for most killings lies as much in the identity of the victim  as the perpetrator. But people want to know more; could  the murder have been prevented, a claim of mistaken identity,  the phone wasn’t working,”  pour encourager les autres the …

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Financial responsibility in the Guildhall ( photo)  The negotiations have begun.   First off, the shiny new Executive have said thanks and no thanks to the Treasury . “ Thanks guys for £ 313mn but no thanks to your demand for us  to raise regional rates by 15%.” “What?” the Treasury might reply, “ You refuse to raise a measly £ 113 mn in exchange for us writing off your debt of £550mn? You must be crazy”. Let’s get a bit …

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NI Secretary of State Chris Heaton Harris (UKG photo) By doing its deal with the DUP to get them back into the Assembly, has the British government abandoned its legally binding pledges in the GFA to act with “rigorous impartiality” in government and place  “no external impediment” to the free exercise of the public will in a border poll? Has it instead presented a vision of the Union that will attract the support it claims “would copper-fasten Northern Ireland’s political …

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John Bruton who has just died aged 76  was a slightly accidental Fine Gael taoiseach  during the turbulent political era  of the swing door coalitions of the  1980s and 1990s  which finally ended the long period of Fianna Fail as the natural party of government. Bruton’s rival Bertie Ahern who  appeared  to be heading to restore  Fianna Fail’s fortunes after narrowly defeating him in 1997, described him as “a natural gentleman. We got on very well.” John Major  who succeeded …

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Watching and listening to the local coverage from Stormont  in London which I do sparingly, I was mightily impressed by the energy and drama – all that walking up and down the stairs – on Saturday and Monday. A non-native wouldn’t  have followed a quarter of it but they should have been impressed by the synchronised unity of the  female duopoly of two children of former rival paramilitaries. Such amity is now almost as traditional as the King’s speech at …

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Picture; The Irish Sea  So what next? The coming few days will give us clues. All parties now have no  excuse for failing to work together. Nationalists have the historic gains in human rights and  the  distinction of the  title First Minister.  Compared to the careful neutrality of the GFA,  Unionists can point to a powerful boost to pro Union sentiment  in a document which is  entitled “Safeguarding the Union”. Most trading between GB and NI is not quite the …

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Rishi Sunak offers to sacrifice Brexit freedoms to re-establish government in Northern Ireland.” This is how the Daily Telegraph has headlined an exclusive by its Europe editor James Crisp. His story claims to flesh out at long last what  the DUP  has been negotiating with Chris Heaton Harris and co. these long months. Quite a story. It may be intended  to add credibility to the speculation that a deal is imminent. I’ve pulled together an account from Crisp’s postings on …

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Perhaps the DUP will make the leap, perhaps they won’t. What has long been clear is that the tactics of both party and government are humbug. The DUP  could exercise far more effective pressure on smoothing over the frictions of the Windsor Framework from within a united Assembly. Suzanne Breen has a good guess about the state of play.  While there was no vote, my interpretation from what has been said is that Carla (Lockhart) currently doesn’t support accepting a …

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  Cecil Taylor in the tiny BBC NI Newsroom, 1960s  My first boss in the BBC Cecil Taylor, BBCNI News Editor  at the beginning of the Troubles and an influential editorial figure in the Corporation for many years thereafter, died this week aged 96. His career  ranged from another world in the 1950s through the 1970s and 80s when all had changed utterly.   The pre-Troubles BBC reflected  the dominant forces of  the establishment  which were unionist with a liberal veneer …

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Chief Legacy Commissioner Sir Declan Morgan Dublin’s challenge before the European Human Rights Court at Strasbourg  to the UK  Government’s Legacy Act replacing legal process with  the mainly administrative and arguably closed process of a legacy commission has an air of  political inevitability about it. Whatever their belief in the strength of their case, they could hardly expose such an open flank to a militantly self righteous Sinn Fein.  Not only  Irish nationalism north and south but the UK Labour …

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For several months now, I’ve been lost in admiration for how political journalists and commentators in Slugger and elsewhere have been making bricks without straw  in trying to report the state of politics. But now it seems, if  the panels in late night’s The View are to be believed, a mad rush is on  to complete a deal to restore Stormont –   perhaps as early as next Tuesday when Parliament rises for Christmas.  This may be a tad optimistic but …

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To add a note to my post about the Legacy Act and its Commission. To avoid arid whataboutery, we’ll need to go highfalutin. A crucial aim is  to create an agreed ethical environment emerging out of history. Without it victims are unlikely to obtain  much case by case satisfaction when physical  evidence is so lacking. People – and the official record and records of all kinds  –  will need to start talking. The two governments and all parties  are in …

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