Brian Walker 
Keir Starmer whose legal eminence was seen as an asset not so long ago, is now stigmatised as a narrow minded creature of process whose survival is now at stake. You’d think his legal background would give him.a clear advantage when dealing with the Past But instead, the legacy prompts the question: what is it now more about? Law or politics? The long drawn out saga of new British legacy legislation falls between two stools. Too much law for anti …
The verdict isn’t the calamity which gloomier searchers for truth and other investigators may fear. It will have a limited effect. Media managers and their journalists must hold their nerve. In an assessment of the likely fallout, it’s significant that BBC HQ have left the initial corporate response to the Belfast management. In their case the BBC did not plead justification for believing Adams sanctioned Donaldson’s murder. Rather, it argued that publishing the allegation was credible, on the grounds that his reputation …
Sir Declan Morgan, Chief Commissioner, Legacy Commission The Sean Brown case is a perfect example of what can happen when a the legal vacuum is left by the delay in cancelling one Legacy Act and replacing it with a new Act or a radically amended version of the rejected original. By ordering a public inquiry into the Brown murder, the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal in effect held that the administrative process replacing legal due process of the Independent Commission …
John Ware has form as a leading investigator into the Troubles for BBC Panorama, including the Stakeknife record and responsibility for the Omagh bomb. His relentless account in the Irish News of the lengths to which the British state was prepared to go to deny the identity of Freddie Scapatticci as Stakeknife has an added significance beyond filling in the details. The fact that his well placed legal sources were prepared to talk in a generally conservative environment speaks volumes. …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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. …
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 …
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. …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
