Proposals to tackle Troubles legacy due

An independent body may be set up to investigate violence on both sides of the Border during the Troubles.

An independent body may be set up to investigate violence on both sides of the Border during the Troubles.

The Consultative Group on the Past was set up to establish a way to deal with the legacy left by over 30 years of violence and is headed by former Policing Board vice chairman Denis Bradley and ex-Church of Ireland primate Lord Robin Eames.

It is considering making the PSNI Historic Enquiries Team, which re-examines all deaths in the Troubles between 1968 and 1998, independent and widening its remit to cover the Republic. The team operates under the PSNI and only in the North.

It has apparently uncovered new claims of collusion between paramilitaries and security forces during the course of its work.

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The group is also considering encouraging killers to own up to their crimes in return for an amnesty as part of a truth recovery process.

The theories are among a number of options being considered by the group, which has been asked by the government to examine how Northern Ireland can come to terms with its past.

A series of public meetings offering people an opportunity to contribute to the process gets under way in Belfast tonight.

According to sources other options open for discussion include drafting a covenant that people could sign committing them to non-violent means and creating an audio/visual database of testimonies given in the truth recovery exercise.

It is understood the consultative body has not found much support for a South African-style Truth and Reconciliation Commission, however,

Sources said feedback so far indicated that many victims were also tired of public inquiries and tribunals into a number of controversial killings.

PA