The Ulster Unionist Party’s Upper Bann MLA. Doug Beattie MC, has once again called on the Government to release the public consultation on legacy issues as a matter of urgency.
Speaking after his latest meeting with the Commission for Victims and Survivors’ Pension Group, Doug Beattie MC MLA said:
“Last week was a bleak one for Northern Ireland as Sinn Fein and the DUP failed to find a way to overcome the political impasse. However, this does not mean we have to stand still and there are things we can do to help large sections of our society.
Yet again, for the fourth time in 2 months, I am asking the Secretary of State (SoS) – Karen Bradley – to release the public consultation on legacy issues that will inform and direct us in dealing with our troubled past. This consultation does not need a deal between Sinn Fein and the DUP to be progressed but what it does need is input from society especially from victims and survivors’ groups.
The Ulster Unionist Party has made it clear, we have major issues around the formation of the Historical Investigations Unit, a Statute of Limitations and legacy inquests and we are willing to input our concerns as part of the consultation. We also have a major issue that reparations for innocent victims of the troubles - in the form of a pension – may not be included in the consultation.
However, in the end the people need to know what the proposed legacy mechanisms will look like, how they might work and how the Government proposes to give justice to victims, survivors and wider society.
Northern Ireland needs to move forward and continually hiding difficult issues behind a cloak of secrecy just does not work. The Secretary of State and the Northern Ireland Office must now take steps to release the public consultation - that was first promised in August 2017 – to enable society to tackle one of the big ticket issues that has blighted us for far too long.
This should be released in early March and must include the pensions for seriously injured innocent victims. If not, then the Secretary of State and the NIO must tell us why not.”