Ulster Unionist Leader, Mike Nesbitt MLA has given his reaction to speculation that Dr Haass may suggest a new process with limited immunity.
Mr Nesbitt said:
“The real issue is the danger of inventing a process that yields limited truth. On a practical level who is going to decide to give up the quest for justice? It is too simple to say we should let families decide. As a Victims Commissioner, I sat with many families who did not agree on what they wanted. Some individuals want truth and justice, some would settle for the truth and others just want to move on. So, who decides when you have a family who have lost a loved one to terrorism leaving a Wife and three children behind – what if the Wife and one of the children want the “truth”, but the other two children want to continue the quest for justice? Who is going to decide who views take precedence?
“What about the impact of a terrorist bomb attack where there were multiple murders. Families will divide the same way individual family members do. Who has the right to deny any family the right to justice in that case? It has the potential to create another hierarchy of victims.
“Beyond that, we have developed a robust body of evidence that indicates limited immunity does not lead to total truth.
“The Smithwick report is but the latest example. Despite being given limited immunity the IRA were slow to produce a statement, slower still to respond to the Judge’s questions of clarification, refused to subject themselves to cross-examination and at the end of the process, Judge Smithwick stated that he didn`t believe them.
“During the Saville inquiry Martin McGuinness said, “I feel I cannot answer that question because there is a Republican code of honour. …For me to identify who these people are would be a betrayal, in my view … To do so would have been a gross act of betrayal…I have a duty, in my view, stretching back 30 years, to those people and I am not prepared to break my word to them under any circumstances.” Even when granted limited immunity Martin McGuinness is not prepared to divulge what he knows.
“Then consider the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims Remains established in April 1999. 15 years later and despite being given limited immunity, Republicans have only revealed the location of half the bodies.
“The decommissioning of weapons has not been full and frank with some the Provisional IRA`s stock seeping into the hands of the republican terrorists of today.
“What we have seen is continuous Sinn Fein double speak. They say they want a truth commission. But despite being offered limited immunity, what Republicans have offered in return, is at best a very limited truth and only on their terms.
“It is up to them to address the truth deficit.”