PRESS RELEASE FAMILIES ACTING FOR INNOCENT RELATIVES (FAIR)

FAIR initial response to the Legacy Framework announcement, as victims consider the context and content of the documents released by the two Governments

“As the two Governments met at Hillsborough Castle on September 19, to announce a new Legacy Framework many victims recalled a previous occasion almost 40 years ago when the same Governments chose the same location to sign the Anglo-Irish Agreement. That Diktat was signed without consultation with and the agreement of the Unionist community. It was an attempt by the British Government to appease and include the Irish Government in an ill-conceived strategy to improve cross-border security and cooperation. It was also an attempt to appease Irish nationalism and was bitterly opposed by unionists. In the end Margaret Thatcher saw the Agreement as a disappointment “our concessions alienated the Unionists without gaining the level of security co-operation we had a right to expect. In the light of this experience,  it is surely time to consider an alternative approach”.

Our first concern is that the same strategy is being employed and will have the same results. The Irish state could and should have cooperated fully in an effective cross-border security policy to protect border communities like ours – they refused and played politics with the lives of our loved ones. Today they could and should cooperate fully with the Omagh Inquiry and the Kingsmills and other Inquests but they refuse and still play politics with our lives. They should not try to trade our rights and their responsibilities for political leverage.

Given their role in the creation, financing and facilitation of terrorism and their failure to bring security, justice, or truth before or after the Anglo-Irish or Belfast Agreements what confidence should we have in them now? Why has it taken them this long to introduce the most basic of things like a Legacy Unit within their own police force?

We must also demand clarification from the Irish Government about a worrying statement made by Michael McDowell former Minister for Justice, and Tánaiste who stated “In this state, a de facto moratorium on investigation and prosecution of IRA members (other than those described as dissidents) came into operation.” How does this sit with the Irish criticism and international legal case to the UK which lies at the root of the current British Government concessions on Legacy.

Few lessons it would seem have been learnt from 1985, as it still seems the preferred option of the Births and Irish Governments to negotiate behind the backs of the Unionist community and their political representatives. This is compounded by the failure to include victims. Therefore, we must ask who exactly is this framework meant to appeal to or appease? Is it really about victims and their needs or the need to reset Anglo-Irish relations and appease a Nationalist/republican victims lobby?

Despite our concerns and questions, we will take time to examine the text of the Framework and indeed will interrogate the legislation which will be required to make it work. FAIR and other groups have already placed on record our clear and consistent demands for any process to deal with the legacy of the past. We will use those standards to judge the present framework and its enabling legislation.

We note already that pathways to justice have been reopened and we welcome that, however there must be equality and at present this is not the case. Not all actors are held equally accountable, and not all are committed to participate. We can see how the state can be held accountable however the same is not true of the sub state groups. We are glad that justice is. Not now being traded for truth, however we cannot see a mechanism that will hold terrorist organisations accountable.

While we see measure to reassure veterans it is worrying that these do not form part in the framework. Equally concerning is that protections for veterans may well applied to terrorists. Like many political frameworks the document related leaves more questions than answers and we feel most for families which have already engaged with the ICRIR in good faith. Where will they be left and how will any transition to a Legacy Commission take place.

Finally, we recall the 2014 Stormont House Agreement had three pillars one of which has been totally ignored – the Oral History Archive. At a time when the Republican movement tries to airbrush their atrocities out of history there is a real need for the truth of what happened to be told. Victims have always demanded the right to be heard and groups like FAIR were established to give them a voice.

FAIR will once more, and this is the fifth or sixth time, talk to its members and the wider victims’ community. We will work with our elected representatives to measure this framework and the legislation proposed to enable it. We will decide whether this really does offer a meaningful and effective answer to the questions of dealing with our painful past. “