Ulster Unionist Justice Spokesperson, Doug Beattie MC MLA has responded to the Interim report of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee into the Government’s Legacy proposals by stating that the arrangements ultimately put in place must be fair, balanced and meet the needs of innocent victims.   

Doug Beattie MC MLA said:

“Where I agree with the interim report is its call for the Government to produce more detailed proposals as to what it intends to do regards Legacy. I look forward to the March Statement being expanded upon, but I am in no doubt that the needs of innocent victims must be paramount and that history must not be rewritten.

“The Ulster Unionist Party made its views clear to the Committee in our written evidence. We have consistently maintained that the Stormont House Agreement Legacy arrangements are unworkable and unacceptable, not least the Historical Investigations Unit, which we believe will inevitably produce an imbalanced investigations process which focuses on the Police and Army, given that only they have accurate historical records that can be examined.

“Any attempt to look at Legacy must take account of the context of the times and the fact that 90 per cent of Troubles deaths were due to the illegal acts of terrorist groups, whilst 10 per cent were the responsibility of the Police and Army. The focus must be on those terror groups, and we should not be facilitating a process designed to rewrite history and whitewash the crimes of terrorists.

“We also want to see the Republic of Ireland account for the role played by Dublin during the Troubles, not least at the outset, given the recent revelations and claims about the 1970 Arms Trial and the fact that the IRA ‘s Chief of Staff was a Garda agent. We also need to examine in  detail just how for decades the IRA was able to use the territory of the Republic to maintain arms dumps, training camps and launch cross border bomb and gun attacks which cost the lives of hundreds of UK citizens.”