Nobody wants a ‘blanket immunity’ from prosecution for those involved in Northern Ireland conflict, says Higgins

President Michael D Higgins has said that nobody who has suffered from the conflict in Northern Ireland wants to see an immunity from prosecution for those responsible.

His remarks, following an address to the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, are an unusual criticism of the policy of a foreign government from the President.

The British government intends to introduce legislation which provide an amnesty to those involved in historical crimes provided they co-operate with a new commission for reconciliation and information recovery.

However, the plans have been strongly criticised by the Irish Government and by all parties in Northern Ireland.

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President Higgins fielded questions from members of the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe, a trans-European human rights body (different from the EU) which oversees the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights.

He told members: “I am a non-executive president and I am reminded occasionally by our people about that ...” but went on to sharply criticise the British plans for an amnesty.

He said nobody in the North, from whatever community, who had suffered during the Troubles, that“none of them want a blanket immunity for those who were responsible”.

He repeatedly cited his close relationship with the late Queen Elizabeth, praising her work in support of the peace process, and also said he had a close relationship with the new King Charles.

President Higgins earlier told the Council of Europe that a lack of “legitimacy and competence” in economic matters across the EU has fuelled a democratic crisis and led to a major loss of trust.

The President also called for the European Convention on Human Rights to be bolstered and strengthened to cope with a number of crises including the war in Ukraine and hunger in the Horn of Africa.

President Higgins made the comments when he addressed the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.

The Council of Europe is the continent’s leading human rights organisation. It includes 46 member states, 27 of which are members of the European Union. Russia was expelled earlier this year.

While the President said that it was an understandable decision, he will also say it should not mean “a permanent exclusion from the Council of Europe, of hope that the Russian population of 144 million people, along with all the other peoples, will not return again to enjoy the necessary protection of the European system of human rights protection.”

President Higgins also sharply criticised the economic mistakes made before and during the last recession, pointing towards their effects on social cohesion.

“A narrow, blinkered paradigm of economics was allowed to dominate policy, with disastrous effects on social cohesion, one that challenged any human rights perspective. This paradigm contradicted everything in the spirit of the Council of Europe, and in particular its values as expressed through the European Social Charter protecting as they do socio-economic rights, rights relating to employment, housing, health, education, social protection and welfare,” he said.

“We must ask why the Charter was not invoked when social welfare was being cut and public services slashed across Europe in the name of austerity more than a decade ago, the remnants of which remain with us today, manifesting in so many countries of the Union as underfunded public services and yawning inequality.”

“The crisis of legitimacy and competence on economic and fiscal matters, a crisis which has fuelled the democratic crisis we continue to see unfolding, not just in Europe, but around the world, has precipitated the great loss of trust now manifesting itself.”

President Higgins also pointed towards the rising influence of social media as a key driver of declining trust.

“We need to seriously reflect on the consequences of unregulated control of the spaces for public comment by a very small number of owners, owners who by not accepting responsibility or regulation are facilitating a culture of unaccountable comment far outside the normal boundaries or restraint of political and social commentary.”

President Higgins is also due to meet Síofra O’Leary, who will become the first Irish and first woman president of the European Court of Human Rights when she takes up her post at the start of November.

Speaking about the war in Ukraine, President Higgins said that the “egregious breaches of the European Convention on Human Rights being witnessed in Ukraine at present, and the significant political, financial and practical challenges this situation has brought to the Council of Europe, creates an opportunity to progress issues which may have been held in abeyance or stasis for too long, an opportunity for the Council of Europe to assert a renewed commitment to its values.”

“The first challenge we face, as assembly members are acutely aware, is how to end the appalling return to our Continent of war, of an arms race as the outcome, creating and deepening grave geopolitical fractures that carry disastrous human consequences.”