Widespread support was expressed by political parties and community groups in the North for the British government's decision to set up a commission to examine how to commemorate victims of the Troubles. The commission, which will be headed by Sir Kenneth Bloomfield, the former head of the Northern Ireland civil service, will consider the erection of a memorial to those who have died during the past 28 years. However, there is disagreement over whether this would include republican and loyalist paramilitaries.
Sinn Fein said that any planned memorial must be to all victims, including IRA members. "No one has a monopoly on suffering. The memorial must be all-inclusive. Rather than becoming a divisive issue, it should in fact assist the process of reconciliation and healing," a spokesman said.
He added that the party had no problem in remembering British soldiers, RUC officers and loyalist paramilitaries who had been killed and expected unionists and the British government to respond similarly regarding the republican dead.
However, the DUP's justice spokesman, Mr Ian Paisley Jnr, said: "It would be disgraceful if this project was hijacked by the perpetrators of violence. Relatives of the victims would find it highly offensive if their loved ones were contaminated by association with their murderers.
"This weekend marks the fourth anniversary of the Shankill bombing. How would the people of the Shankill feel if the names of their dead were engraved on a memorial along with that of Thomas Begley, the IRA bomber who was also killed in the explosion?"
Ulster Unionist MP Mr Jeffrey Donaldson also said that any tribute must exclude IRA members. The party's security spokesman, Mr Ken Maginnis, welcomed the commission and expressed hope that it would consider financial assistance for the bereaved.
"Members of the security forces have long been neglected in terms of peace and reconciliation funding which was intended to alleviate problems suffered by victims of violence," he said.
The cross-community group WAVE also welcomed the commission. "It is about time that attention was paid not to those who shout loudest but to those who have paid the ultimate price of the `troubles'. "
Announcing the setting up of the new body, the Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, said that not enough attention had been paid to the victims of violence and that the commission would consult with welfare groups, the churches, the political parties, and the relatives of those killed and injured.