For Michelle Williamson the past is inseparable from the present. "I can't put the past into the past because there is so much in the news that brings it all back." Her parents, George and Gillian Williamson, were killed in the Shankill bombing in October, 1993. They were on a Saturday morning shopping trip from Lisburn and decided to buy fish in Frizzell's shop when the IRA bomb exploded, killing 10 people, including one of the IRA bombers, Thomas Begley.
Formerly a civil servant, she has been unable to work since the explosion. The past couple of months have been particularly difficult: the Omagh blast and the release of paramilitary prisoners - particularly the knowledge that the surviving Shankill bomber, Sean Kelly, should be freed over the next two years - worsened that sense of dejection.
Two weeks ago she was told by the Compensation Agency that the only compensation she could receive for her parents' death was their burial expenses. This triggered feelings of deep anger, compounding the grief and despair she has suffered over the five years since the bombing.
"The people need to know how much the government values their lives," Ms Williamson said yesterday at a press conference organised for her by Mr Ian Paisley Jnr of the Democratic Unionist Party at Parliament Buildings, Stormont.
Ms Williamson says she is highlighting what she perceives as a terrible "insult and injustice", not for the money - "no amount of money can bring my parents back" - but for the principle of the matter, and for the bereaved and surviving victims of almost 30 years of violence. "We were victims then, and we are still victims."
She feels the two-year release scheme for prisoners under the Belfast Agreement is deplorable. "I am living a life sentence, why should they be allowed walk? If I were so inclined I could go out and get those responsible, and do a few years."
Ms Williamson (31) is married with an eight-year-old son. She has had some dealings with bereavement counselling agencies but says she is the sort of woman who prefers "to keep myself to myself".
She was particularly close to her mother. The day of the bombing was "just like yesterday", she says. "I can't forget them. I get on with my life as if they were still there. The Omagh bombing brought it all back. One day I am OK, the next day I feel down, I feel depressed."
For five years her solicitor came up against a "brick wall" when trying to win a level of compensation that, to her mind, would at least acknowledge the humanity of her parents, that would accept they were people who led real and valuable lives. She says her anger was intensified when she heard of paramilitary prisoners or former prisoners getting substantial sums for "minor injuries". "Where's the justice in that? Is an injury worth more than the loss of life?"
She has spoken to a number of other victims who feel an equal sense of injustice, frustration and anger. "If need be, the victims of Northern Ireland will all get together and stand up for our rights on this."
Mr Paisley said Ms Williamson was campaigning for a principle. "The current situation allows the people who created victims to assume greater importance than the victims they created. I hope the government hangs its head in shame and disgust at the way it treats the victims of the Troubles in Northern Ireland," he added.
A Northern Ireland Office spokesman pointed out that they did not comment on individual cases. However, each case was "considered on an equal basis and compensation paid where legislation allows," he said.
An NIO source said that under the terms of the legislation Ms Williamson was not entitled to compensation because she was not a "dependant" of her parents at the time of the bombing.