British prime minister Keir Starmer is to meet Taoiseach Michéal Martin this week for the now-regular summit, a welcome sign of the closeness between our two countries.
Back in London, however, the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill, introduced in 2025 by Northern Ireland Secretary of State Hilary Benn continues its passage through Westminster.
The Bill seeks to remove the protections from vexatious legal action for British soldiers and members of the IRA that were enshrined in the 2023 Northern Ireland Legacy Act passed by the previous Conservative government.
Whatever its flaws, that 2023 Act offered the chance to draw a line under the perpetual stream of legal cases that keep the Troubles front of mind for all parties involved in the long and painful confrontation.
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The Bill, however, threatens the line in the sand created three years ago and will reopen the prospect of legal actions churning over the same ground again, with no additional evidence of wrongdoing.
In the IRA’s case, the records and forensic evidence do not exist. In the case of the security forces no new records can be forthcoming – they have already been pored over endlessly.
It is now 28 years since the Belfast Agreement was signed and 57 years since the Troubles began, yet it remains troubling that politicians are resisting the opportunity to let the past become the past.
The 1998 agreement was a remarkable achievement, but it was never intended to be the final word. Rather, it provided a framework for peace, built on compromise and deliberate ambiguity.
That ambiguity allowed opposing communities to sign up to the same document while holding to different aspirations with the aim of promoting peace, reconciliation and moving forwards.
It was the strength of the settlement, but also its enduring weakness. Each time the political balance is disturbed, the underlying differences between communities inevitably resurface.
The passing of time has not, as many hoped, softened these divisions. Instead, we find ourselves caught between unfinished business from the past and new strains from the present.
Relationships with the Republic of Ireland, political infighting in the North and pressure from victims for closure all pose conflicting demands. In such circumstances, the need for confident, principled leadership is greater than ever.
Without it, we in the United Kingdom risk undermining the tenets of effective government at a moment when global uncertainty makes stability more valuable than ever.
Looking to challenges facing the UK’s national security, with a severely depleted military armoury – a circumstance which is not unimportant to Ireland, can it be right that we still devote so much time, effort and cost to the past?
The latest attempt to address legacy spectacularly misses the point. Too often, it seems impossible either to acknowledge the British state’s role in past actions or to safeguard properly its individual servants who acted in good faith under orders.
This dilemma produces not only a sense of injustice for victims, but also poses real dangers for the future. A society locked in perpetual retrospective litigation risks paralysing its own capacity to act decisively in crisis.
States must be accountable, but they must also defend the integrity of those who bore responsibility in difficult times. For former soldiers summoned before a coroner’s court now, their commanders will not shoulder responsibility beside them.
No British government ministers who served during difficult chapters in The Troubles, and who made the decision to deploy them there, will be present to answer for the choices they made.
This is the reality of legacy: those who served did their duty in circumstances not of their making, yet half a century on they are left exposed without the shield of context or accountability that should rightfully belong to the state.
Those on the front-line were exposed to considerable risk, and acted in good faith, following instructions they trusted to be lawful and responsible.
Their service was underpinned by an unwritten contract: that those prepared to risk their lives for the state can expect that same state to stand by them when they are in need.
Throughout Operation Banner, the code name for the British army’s support to the Royal Ulster Constabulary, that assumption underwrote the actions of those who served then in British uniform.
Yet today, the British state is content to let individuals face legal scrutiny alone, while both the chain of command and the government that sent them to Northern Ireland step back from responsibility.
That is unjust and undermines the bond of trust on which military service depends. It therefore has direct implications for the British military for decades to come.
While the latest Anglo-Irish framework to address the legacy of the Troubles may be well-intentioned, it is flawed on three counts.
First, it abdicates UK sovereign responsibility by sharing the announcement with the Irish Government. Second, it raises unrealistic expectations that can never be satisfied – especially given the passage of years. Third, it exposes British veterans once again by allowing inquests to resume.
The Bill proposes six new protections for ex-service people, but these are relevant only once a case has recommenced, are pretty meaningless in practice and are, in any event, largely routinely available to anyone.
If we are to safeguard Northern Ireland’s peace and its effective governance, political leaders in Britain cannot allow the ambiguity that delivered peace to lead to paralysis now. And our friends in Ireland should support them.
Only by acknowledging the past honestly, protecting those who acted in good faith and upholding the British state’s side of the contract can we secure the trust on which military service and democratic government ultimately depend.
History will not judge Starmer on how carefully he managed legacy. It will judge whether he had the courage and leadership to close a chapter on the past and let the future have its day.
General Peter Wall was chief of the general staff of the British army 2010-2014. General Nick Parker was commander-in-chief 2010-2012, general officer, commanding Northern Ireland 2006-2007
