MPs have overturned attempts to remove a conditional immunity provision from contentious legislation aimed at halting post-conflict prosecutions in Northern Ireland.
The House of Lords had voted to tear up an element of the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill, which offers those accused of Troubles-related crimes immunity from being prosecuted if they cooperate with a new truth-recovery body.
In its third and final stage through Parliament on Tuesday, MPs voted 292 to 200—majority 92—to disagree with the suggested Peers change.
The bill will now return to the Lords for further consideration, with the government hoping it becomes law before the start of the summer recess on Thursday.
The proposed law also seeks to halt future civil cases and inquests linked to killings during the conflict and would allow the newly established Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) to take over hundreds of unresolved Troubles cases.
Critics of the measures say it will benefit “terrorists more than their victims.”
Despite a string of government amendments, the bill remains widely opposed by political parties, the Irish government and victims’ groups.
Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said the legislation contains “finely balanced political and moral choices that are uncomfortable for many.”
He told MPs: “But we should be honest about what we can realistically deliver for the people in Northern Ireland in circumstances where the prospects of achieving justice in the traditional sense are so vanishingly small.
Reconciliation
Mr. Heaton-Harris described conditional immunity as a “crucial aspect of the information recovery process” with the government believing it is “the best mechanism by which we can generate the greatest volume of information in the quickest possible time to pass on to families and victims who have been waiting for so long.”Shadow Northern Ireland secretary Peter Kyle said the bill “benefits terrorists more than their victims”, adding the Lords had sought to address this “flaw” by removing the immunity clause.
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, Leader of Northern Ireland’s largest unionist party, said it should be up to victims and their families how justice is pursued.
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader told the Commons: “We do need change. We need a system that can deliver. But surely it’s the victims that should have the choice, it surely should be down to the families to choose if they want to pursue justice or information.
“And when we deny them that route, when we take away the access to justice, in my opinion, we actually diminish the prospect of achieving the second objective of this bill, which is reconciliation.”
DUP MP Jim Shannon could not hold back his tears while advocating for justice on behalf of his cousin Kenneth Smyth, who lost his life at the hands of the IRA.
The 28-year-old was an off-duty Ulster Defence Regiment soldier who was shot dead alongside another man, Daniel McCormick, near Strabane, County Tyrone in 1971.
In a tearful speech to the House, Mr. Shannon said: “Our pain is still here, our pain is still raw and our people grieve and my constituents grieve, and really you say they’re going to have justice?
“We can’t see justice, we don’t see it.”
Social Democratic and Labour Party leader Colum Eastwood described the bill as “a license for impunity.”
“Mostly it’s a piece of legislation that is written in very dark corners of the British establishment to ensure light is not shone into those corners,” he said.
Torment Victims
More than 3,500 people were killed during the three-decade-long Northern Ireland conflict, known as the Troubles.Thirty-two percent who lost their lives were members of the British security forces, and 16 percent were members of paramilitary groups.
Republican paramilitaries were responsible for some 60 percent of the deaths, loyalists 30 per cent, and security forces 10 percent.
East Belfast DUP representative told MPs the legislation would “torment” victims.
“The ability to offer immunity to terrorists, the ability to ensure they never face justice for their crimes, the subsequent ability to then talk openly and freely about their exploits, as those who have already been convicted do, it is not as if we need a crystal ball to guess that people who are unencumbered by the criminal justice system will have the freedom not only to share their experience but to torment their victims and their loved ones further,” he said.
Ahead of the debate, Northern Ireland Veterans Commissioner Danny Kinahan told the BBC he is giving a guarded welcome to the legislation because of the “lopsided” number of prosecutions against former members of the armed forces.
But victims campaigner Raymond McCord, whose son Raymond Jnr was murdered by loyalists during the Troubles, said it was time for the Irish, U.S. and European leaders to “step up” to halt “this shameful destruction of justice.”
He said: “Be it through the courts in Strasbourg or a refusal of any trade deal, it’s clear just words are not enough. “The families and victims not only deserve justice—they are entitled to it under British and international law.”
Last month, Cabinet Minister Johnny Mercer told MPs he expected the so-called Troubles amnesty to become law within weeks.
Mr. Mercer made the comments despite warnings by Irish premier Leo Varadkar that his government would consider taking an interstate case against Westminster if the proposals became law.
