Villiers outlines how issues from Troubles to be addressed

Northern Secretary Theresa Villiers has published a policy paper on how to help victims of the Troubles but warned that legacy issues only will be addressed in the context of a comprehensive political agreement.

As all-party talks continued today, Ms Villiers published proposals on how the legacy elements of the stalled Stormont House Agreement would be implemented.

The proposals include an investigative unit to criminally inquire into Troubles-related killings and a body to try to deal with truth recovery.

These negotiations, which are now in their third full day, are concentrating on the fallout from the murder of Belfast republican Kevin McGuigan and the deadlock over welfare reform.

In an effort to drive the talks forward, Ms Villiers presented the parties with a detailed document on how the British and Irish governments would legislate in relation to dealing with the legacy of Troubles.

Ms Villiers said, however, that new structures to address the past only will come into being if a range of other matters are settled, including the implementation of British government welfare reform.

“One of the reasons why we need to resolve the whole range of questions, to get the agreement sorted and the implementation process going again is because we don’t want to hold up these new institutions because it is important that we see real progress for victims and survivors,” she said.

Ms Villiers set out in the paper how three new institutions that were signed up to by the parties in the Stormont House Agreement of last Christmas would be created.

These bodies were put on hold after Sinn Féin and the SDLP subsequently said they could not accept the new welfare arrangements.

Historical Investigations Unit

The proposed Northern Ireland (Stormont House Agreement) Bill allows for the creation of a Historical Investigations Unit (HIU), an Independent Commission on Information Retrieval and an Oral History Archive.

The HIU, which effectively would replace the Historical Enquiries Team which was set up to investigate some 3,000 unsolved murders of the Troubles, will be an independent body which will carry on these investigations.

Separately, the Independent Commission on Information Retrieval will be established by international agreement between the British and Irish governments.

It will enable victims and survivors to seek and privately receive information about the Troubles-related deaths of their next-of-kin.

Information provided to the information retrieval commission cannot be used to bring prosecutions. Prosecutions, however, can be brought in relation to such killings on the basis of other evidence.

The Bill further provides for an Oral History Archive, as was also agreed in last year’s Stormont House Agreement. The archive will be a “central place for people from all backgrounds to share experiences and narratives related to the Troubles and to draw together existing oral history projects”.

In addition, the policy paper presented by Ms Villiers contains a provision to extend the time available to allocate Ministerial positions from 7 days to 14 days after the Northern Assembly first meets following an election.