‘Unacceptable' exclusion of groups of Troubles victims from compensation scheme

Independent

18-05-2025

A number of groups of victims of Northern Ireland's troubled past are being excluded from a compensation scheme, an advocacy group has said.
Relatives For Justice said applications to the scheme from many of those bereaved in the Troubles, victims of plastic and rubber bullets, victims of sexual violence and victims of so-called punishment attacks are being rejected.
The Troubles Permanent Disablement Payment Scheme has paid out around £90 million since it opened for applications since 2021, and is set to close to new applications in August 2026.
Relatives For Justice has urged that the scheme be looked at again in terms of how it is operating and whether it is delivering to victims and survivors.
Andree Murphy, deputy director of Relatives For Justice, said for victims of plastic or rubbers bullets there 'appears to be a lack of understanding' of the experience of policing in working class communities.
'Many millions have been paid in compensation to those injured from their use. It is unacceptable that victims, injured by their use, then deliberately arrested and charged for civil disobedience in order to justify their use, are by default excluded from the scheme deemed 'injured by their own hand',' she said.
'For example of the 17 people killed by rubber and plastic bullets, nine of whom were children, all inquests found that those killed were uninvolved in any disturbances and were entirely innocent victims.
'In terms of the use of plastic bullets, it is resulting in an almost blanket approach of disbelief and rejection of those applicants.'
She said the situation is 'even worse' for victims of so-called punishment attacks.
'When the victims survived attacks the physical and psychological injuries were often devastating and life changing for them and their families,' she said.
'Colloquial terms such as 'kneecapping' became known as a form of attack carried out by these groups.
'There is a blanket exclusion of these victims of the conflict with the current interpretation of eligibility.
'In RFJ's view a fresh working interpretation of the legislation would allow these victims and survivors to receive support from this scheme.'
Ms Murphy also raised concern around sexual violence during the Troubles as 'remaining undefined and neglected'.
She said RFJ have worked with an applicant who sexually assaulted as a teenager by a serving police officer, and has been refused compensation under the scheme.
'The scheme does not benefit from a practical understanding of that experience, despite research and a workshop provided at the beginning of the scheme,' she said.
'The narrow interpretation of legislation to exclude these harms as 'private' and unrelated to the conflict has further compounded the isolation and invisibility of the victims of these violations in both the public and private spheres.'
Meanwhile Ms Murphy highlighted the experience of the bereaved who applied to the scheme.
The scheme only allows for the bereaved to access compensation if they were present at the scene of the killing, or the immediate aftermath.
'Relatives for Justice does not believe that this is a scheme which the bereaved should be forced to apply to, however it is the only scheme of reparation in existence, therefore the bereaved will and are applying. 31% of the applications supported by RFJ to date have been with bereaved relatives,' she said.
Last week Mr Justice McAlinden, president of the Victims' Payment Board, described the definition of the current scheme as 'very restrictive' when he appeared before the Stormont Executive Committee.
He told MLAs he regretted omissions from those who are eligible for the scheme, including the bereaved.
He said they had tried to but added that politicians had the power to reconstruct the scheme.
Mr Justice McAlinden also rejected a contention that going through the application process for some was 'dehumanising, cruel, re-traumatising and ritual humiliation'.
However Ms Murphy described the current exclusions as 'unacceptable', and said changes should be made.
'I just don't accept the idea that we can do nothing about how the bereaved are treated unless the British government does something or that kids kneecapped when they were 15 can still be criminalised when they are 60 or that we have a scheme where sexual violence is doubly rendered invisible and silenced,' she added.