Dealing with the Past – Slugger O'Toole

As the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement approaches, the immediate outlook is uncertain. But reform is in the air

Brian Walker on April 2, 2023, 1:14 pm | Readers 5395

As the Great Anniversary approaches, unionist opinion in its supporting press is in turmoil over whether or when to return to the Assembly. Worryingly there is talk of being resigned to loyalist violence in the event of a border poll. Opinion is tilting against accepting the Windsor Framework. Its gaps and deficiencies are forensically taken apart in the Belfast Telegraph by Sam McBride. In the Newsletter, the voice of sceptical unionism, the editor Ben Lowry comes down against the Framework …

The long and winding road to dealing with the past stretches ahead at Westminster. Will it turn out to be a dead end?

Brian Walker on November 28, 2022, 5:00 pm | Readers 3332

All Northern Ireland parties and groups including victims are united on one thing. They are opposed to the UK government’s NI Troubles, (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill. Nevertheless the Bill began its long passage to become law – or not –in the House of Lords last Wednesday. The Lords debate presents a good opportunity to air the issues in one place in this lengthy post. A vote will eventually be held on whether to recommend scrapping the Bill entirely or heavily …

Former chief justice’s frustrations boil over at deadlock over the Legacy Bill. He tells MPs : “people need a kick up the bottom.”

Brian Walker on June 23, 2022, 2:10 pm | Readers 2191

The former Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan allowed his frustrations to boil over at a hearing of the Commons NI Committee yesterday examining the government’s Legacy bill. The earlier draft Bill dating back 12 years for a with a powerful Historical Investigations Unit at its core which had been finally endorsed by most local parties was abruptly scrapped by the British government and replaced by a radical new version for a de facto amnesty. Not that they admit to …

The UK government must do better than this wretched legacy bill. But an amnesty is still inevitable

Brian Walker on May 24, 2022, 6:46 pm | Readers 2266

Last week the Bishop of Derry dedicated a garden to the memory of a 15 year old Derry boy Manus Deery, shot dead by the British Army in the Bogside on the 50th anniversary of his death. As the Derry Now website reported: Manus had just started working after leaving St Joseph’s Secondary School and was eating a bag of chips and carrying a comic in his back pocket which he had bought with his first wage packet… At the …

Legacy: “There are others who live with not knowing whilst hoping for something else…”

Terry Wright on January 31, 2022, 10:54 am | Readers 2851

cherry blossoms, landscape, spring

A good friend whose political views differ from mine was also in attendance on the evening before. He wondered why I did not engage in the discussion. I explained that had I done so, my comments would have presented as… “but, what about..? Until the victims of Bloody Sunday and Ballymurphy are ready to say: ‘What about Claudy and Ballykelly’ and the victims of Claudy and Ballykelly feel they can say: “What about Bloody Sunday and Ballymurphy,’ will we be where …

A southern truth and reconciliation process meets with inevitable northern scepticism

Brian Walker on November 30, 2021, 2:02 pm | Readers 2894

A brave attempt to break the deadlock between the British government’s proposal for a Troubles amnesty and the refusal of all other parties and groups to contemplate it received an airing in a webinar last Friday hosted by UCD academics. (TRP) is a group of southern independent great and good.. Their webinar was chaired by an Irish High Court Judge Mr Justice Richard Humphries, so presumably they have influence . They support the implementation of a ‘Truth Recovery and Reconciliation …

A Troubles history based on British records will not be the whole story but it’s still worth it

Brian Walker on November 26, 2021, 8:24 pm | Readers 3147

Irish Times columnist and distinguished historian Diarmaid Ferriter dismisses the British government proposal for an “official” British history of the Troubles. Although it could hardly be the last word, this is a project I believe is well worth exploring if it means opening state archives to independent historians. If an amnesty of some sort is passed, greater access to state records would be part of the deal, to accompany the end of prosecutions. While such a deal would produce furious …

Professional historians will be wary of terms like these for writing an official History of the Troubles

Brian Walker on November 15, 2021, 5:43 pm | Readers 4352

The Daily Telegraph reports… An official history of The Troubles will be commissioned under government plans, amid fears the narrative of the conflict is being distorted by republicans. It would also focus on the role of the British Government and Armed Forces in the 30-year sectarian conflict, including the Bloody Sunday massacre of 1972, when 13 civilians were shot dead by troops. If signed off, the official history project would sit alongside a package of measures announced earlier this year to …

Gazing back 100 years will lead to a crick in the neck rather than the insights we need to grow…

Mick Fealty on September 24, 2021, 4:04 pm | Readers 3091

highway, mountain, trees

And to finish the week, Newton Emerson throws some light on the politics of the President’s refusal to come Armagh in October as a part of the decade of centenaries… Under his Machnamh centenary programme, described as “inviting reflections on the War of Independence, the Treaty Negotiations, the Civil War and Partition”, the President has spent a year hosting academic seminars on contested commemoration, ethical remembering and, above all, on colonialism as the overriding context for the centenary. It is …

The stance adopted by President Michael D Higgins can feed into reflection, even if he has retreated from the scene.

Terry Wright on September 20, 2021, 11:03 am | Readers 5526

castle, ruin, exit

It’s unusual for the DUP, and other Unionists for that matter, to be exercised at the non-visit of a President of Ireland. The reaction sounds like a mixture of genuine disappointment, wounded vanity and point-scoring. In the case of the DUP, glass houses come to mind. Whatever the reason, the nature of the clamour achieves little and has launched a tirade of sniping political comment on social media. This is something which Archbishop Eamon Martin, shortly after the low-key launch …

The comprehensive case for rejecting general amnesty without further legal process.

Brian Walker on September 12, 2021, 4:36 pm | Readers 1517

Scene outside the Law Courts in Belfast during the Ballymurphy Inquest The Model Bill team of NI academics led by Profs Kieran Mc Evoy and Louise Mallinder and the Committee for the Administration of Justice has delivered a scathing analysis of the UK Government’s proposal for an amnesty or statute of limitations, which they’ve entitled “Addressing the Legacy of Northern Ireland’s Past”. The team had previously produced a report for making the Stormont House Agreement work effectively. At its core, …

The outgoing chief justice Declan Morgan calls for progress on the legacy and political reform

Brian Walker on September 2, 2021, 1:13 pm | Readers 1674

Attention in the legal world will focus today in the swearing in of Lady Chief Justice Siobhan Keegan, the first woman to hold the chief justice post ( and the third Catholic in a row – so perhaps that’s one dragon that’s finally been slain) . Young for the job at 50 and entirely home grown, it may be no coincidence that she presided over the Ballymurphy inquest which although not a trial, provided at the very least ample justification for …

The genie of amnesty is out of the bottle. Not the last word, but the beginning of the end.

Brian Walker on July 19, 2021, 3:34 pm | Readers 2087

The British government’s announcement of a statute of limitations has not only united all parties against them. It has also exposed the weaknesses of everybody’s positions including their own. All other parties are insisting on a role for justice while admitting there’s very little hope left of achieving it. As justice for victims and relatives is unobtainable in most cases, what is the point of holding out for years for the remote chance of a trial? After decades of deadlock …

Legacy: Who are we moving on for?

Sarah Creighton on July 19, 2021, 9:29 am | Readers 3064

Northern Ireland, it seems, has a problem with moving on. Decades (centuries) of strife and conflict. The pain, the trauma, all of it passed down from generation to generation. In the year of our lord 2021, we’re still angry about it all. Still hurt, still frustrated and in pain. Step forward the Prime Minister and his Secretary of State, Brandon Lewis. They have seen the light and taken a bold, brave step to help us move forward. The government has …

This time, it’s the Troubles legacy. Northern Ireland opinion on a key issue, even when substantially in agreement, is being overruled by Johnson’s Conservatives

Brian Walker on July 14, 2021, 11:31 am | Readers 5555

The devil will be in the detail but as a example of news management in advance, the UK Government’s plans for a Troubles amnesty could hardly be worse for opinion in Northern Ireland Veterans who served in Northern Ireland are finally set to be freed from the threat of prosecution. In a victory for the Daily Mail, a planned statute of limitations will today be announced covering all incidents during the Troubles. The move by Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis is …

To What End Are We Prepared To Handle The Legacy Of NI’s Past? A Proposal.

Trevor Ringland on May 14, 2021, 8:16 am | Readers 2273

Introduction It is the lesson from that recent period of conflict which we call the “Troubles”, in which 3523 people were killed, 47,000 people were injured, relationships were torn asunder, parts of Northern Ireland ‘Balkanised’ and economic prosperity reduced in both parts of Ireland that violence inevitably leaves a legacy of lasting bitterness. Approximately 60% of the deaths were due to the actions of the Republican Movement, 30% to Loyalist Paramilitaries and 10% members of the Security Forces. In this …

“To hell with the future and long live the past”. Allison Morris turns it around when contemplating a border poll. But has the EU Commission just changed the odds by uniting north and south against them ?

Brian Walker on January 29, 2021, 6:38 pm | Readers 4540

D The new Ulster University campus under construction In this year of different centenary commemorations north and south (sorry,”markings”), Allison Morris has written a terrifically interesting piece in the Irish News . When it comes to weighing the issues for a border poll, she raises the desire for a better life above the call of background, tradition and history, yes even the history of the Troubles. Without labouring the point, contrast this with the run of comment in the Newsletter …

Hyde Park Bombing case opens a route for families the Stormont House Agreement forgot…

Mick Fealty on December 17, 2020, 5:40 pm | Readers 1690

Interesting judgement in London yesterday which I think asks serious questions about how we are going about handling the legacy of the Troubles… Last year, a High Court judge ruled that John Downey was an “active participant” in the bombing.Last year, a High Court judge ruled that John Downey was an “active participant” in the bombing. On Wednesday, the court ruled that an award of “substantial damages” to “mark society’s condemnation” of the bombing can only be made if either …

Lost Lives is a vital and eloquent riposte to “the old Lie”: Dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori….

Mick Fealty on December 14, 2020, 10:18 am | Readers 2483

I have been to the Vietnam wall in Washington, twice. The second time was every bit as emotional as the first. It was the trouble in the world when I was a kid, until it became us. It cuts a scar in the landscape appropriate to the human mess it left, not just in those who died but in the quiet way old men come to say goodbye to their much younger fallen comrades. I’ve often thought of that great book …

United pressure on Sinn Féin may be needed to break the legacy payments deadlock. Their own will benefit

Brian Walker on August 29, 2020, 2:18 pm | Readers 6193

dFM Michelle O’Neill, Sinn Féin Has Martina Anderson’s outburst distracted attention away from the substantive issue of the legacy payments deadlock, or given a boost to resolving it, following the court case requiring Michelle O’Neill in effect to remove her veto or exercise her option to resign? The scheme covers violence related to the Northern Ireland Troubles between 1966 and 2010, including incidents in Great Britain and Europe.. . People will get between £2,000 and £10,000 a year for the …