British legacy plan for Northern Ireland is wrong, Taoiseach says

Planned British government legislation to end prosecutions and restrict inquests and civil claims arising from the Troubles in Northern Ireland are “wrong”, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said.

He said the British proposals were very serious and London needed to give the issue “very serious consideration” as it had the potential to undermine the Belfast Agreement.

The Taoiseach’s comments on Thursday came as an Oireachtas committee again urged the Government to commission legal advice on challenging proposed British legislation on Northern Ireland legacy issues in the European Court of Human Rights.

The chairman of the Oireachtas committee on the implementation of the agreement Fergus O’Dowd said it had decided on Thursday to write again to attorney general Paul Gallagher seeking a legal opinion on the issue.

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In the United States, the largest Irish-American organisation urged politicians on Capitol Hill in Washington continue their opposition to the British proposals.

The Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) said in a letter to members of Congress that their efforts were “making a difference”.

It reminded them that last March the House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution opposing any attempt by the British government to implement an amnesty or a statute of limitation that would end or inhibit the investigation of crimes committed during the Troubles.

The AOH has formally asked the Oireachtas committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement to request that the attorney general to consider taking a State case on the proposed legacy legislation to the European Court of Human Rights.

Senator Niall Blaney, a member of the Oireachtas committee, told The Irish Times on Thursday that he and other members of Fianna Fáil had pressed the Taoiseach to secure advice from the attorney general about taking such a case.

He said he believed the British plans infringed human rights and he expected that if the legacy plans were introduced as currently structured that a legal case would be taken.

Mr Martin said on Thursday the Government opposed planned British Northern Ireland legacy legislation.

“We do not support that legacy bill, we think it’s wrong, we think any actions of unilateralism in respect of the Good Friday agreement is wrong because within the framework of the Good Friday agreement is that commitment to human rights and the European Human Rights Council,” he said.

“In our view on that legacy bill the idea that people cannot pursue their cases, civilly never mind in terms of prosecutions is unacceptable.”

The Taoiseach said the Government had made its position clear to the British authorities and would continue to do so.

Last week, the British government signalled that it was planning to delay the controversial legacy justice bill until November.

Former Fine Gael TD John Deasy, who handles government affairs for the AOH, said following a meeting in London with a British government minister said he believed the fate of the legislation was “hanging in the balance”.