UK judge’s inquiry into on-the-runs ‘to conclude by end of June at latest’

The inquiry by a senior British judge into the operation of the Northern Ireland Office-run scheme that gave assurances to up to 200 IRA members that they were not wanted for prosecution will make “every effort” to be finished by the end of May.

Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers yesterday announced that Lady Justice Hallett of the Court of Appeal will carry out an independent review of the scheme, which told John Downey that he was not wanted for the 1982 Hyde Park bombing.

“Lady Justice Hallett is asked to make every effort to meet the timetable of conducting the inquiry and reporting to me by the end of May 2014, for the purpose of its full publication.

“In any event, the review will conclude by the end of June 2014,” the Northern Secretary said in a written statement to the House of Commons.

Prime minister David Cameron announced an inquiry to finish by the end of May – days after the European Parliament elections are over – earlier this month to stop Northern Ireland’s First Minister Peter Robinson from going ahead with his threat to quit.

'Full public inquiry'
The inquiry will provide "a full public account" of the operation and extent of the OTR scheme; discover the number of other errors, if any, that took place, besides Mr Downey, and to make recommendations.

However, the Hallett inquiry will not investigate the policy decisions taken by Labour prime minister Tony Blair, who acceded to Sinn Féin demands for letters of comfort for IRA on-the-runs.

However, a separate inquiry by the House of Commons’s Northern Ireland affairs committee, which announced its terms of reference yesterday, will investigate policy decisions by senior politicians and officials.

The MPs’ inquiry – which, unlike Lady Justice Hallett, will take evidence in public – will investigate the “background to, and origins of, the scheme, and what was the purpose and intended effect of the scheme”.

Questioned about the MPs’ inquiry, Mr Kenny said yesterday: “Let’s see what comes out of it. The Government was not aware of the issue of the letters. They knew that this was a matter that was being discussed, clearly.”