NI Secretary to meet political parties over legacy legislation
Mr Benn will meet with the leaders of the four larger political parties which comprise the Stormont Executive in Belfast.
Speaking ahead of the meetings, Mr Benn emphasised that any new arrangements must have the confidence of bereaved families and of all communities.
The previous UK government's contentious Legacy Act has been almost universally opposed by political parties and victims groups.
It halted scores of cases going through the courts and inquests concerning the Troubles, and set up the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR).
Mr Benn also reiterated that the government will repeal and replace the Legacy Act.
The ICRIR is expected to be retained.
"This UK government is committed to (repealing and replacing) the previous government's Legacy Act and to ensuring we have a system that is capable of delivering for all families who are seeking answers around the loss of their loved ones," he said.
"I am continuing to work with all of the Northern Ireland parties over what should be included in that legislation.
"It is important that new legacy arrangements are capable of commanding the confidence of families and of all communities," the Northern Ireland secretary added.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Post
14 hours ago
- Irish Post
Who owns the legacy of the Troubles?
MY FRIEND Lyra McKee died from a gunshot wound and became a symbol of a post-Troubles generation. She was a young lesbian and a freelance journalist starting to establish a reputation. One night in April 2019 she stood watching a riot in Derry. Dissident republicans who had rejected the peace deal of 1998 were throwing stones and petrol bombs at police officers who had come into the Creggan estate to make arrests. Riots of this kind were common during the period of the Troubles, generated by both republican and loyalist communities, often with the police as the main target. I watched many riots as a young journalist as Lyra did that night, standing behind police or army lines or occasionally on the sidelines for a clearer view, depending on how safe I felt there. On that night in Derry a man came forward with a pistol and fired at the police. One of his bullets struck Lyra in the head. She then became a symbol of change because this was not supposed to happen. The violence was meant to be behind us. Most of those who had led the violence of the past agreed on that. And Lyra was seen as part of a post conflict generation. She would have been watching that riot perhaps because she had never or rarely seen such a thing. She would have regarded it as a throwback to an awful time. British prime Minister Theresa May applauds with Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar and mourners as the hearse leaves the church after the funeral of murdered journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast (Pic: Rolling News) Her symbolic importance was such that her funeral at St Anne's cathedral in Belfast was attended by the then Prime Minister Theresa May and several dignitaries including the Northern Irish First Minister, Arlene Foster. Her writings were republished, and one particular piece was seen as speaking for her whole generation. As a lesbian writing to her younger self she had said: 'It won't always be like this. It's going to get better.' The tragic irony of how she had died was that it seemed to affirm that the awfulness continued despite her hopes and confidence. And the starkness of that seemed to reinforce a determination that her vision would be fulfilled, that her death could not be pointless, that there had to be a Northern Ireland free of violence and prejudice in which a new generation had put the past behind them. Young people today in Northern Ireland seem divided between those who regard themselves as a fruitful new generation untainted by the past and those who retain the anger and suffer inherited trauma. Both often seem naive to me, as inevitably young people will when trying to respond to events that took place before they were born. Some say they are not like the generation of their parents which made a mess of things. Some carry grief for what their families suffered and struggle to understand a society that has moved on. Take Liadan Ní Chuinn who has just published an extraordinary collection of short stories that the critics are raving about. Liadan is a pseudonym and there is no public disclosure over who she or he is. The name is female. The Irish Times has said of Every One Still Here that it deserves to be considered 'among the best Irish books of the 21st century'. That's one hell of an endorsement. The stories are largely about generational trauma, featuring young characters who agonise over the legacy of the Troubles and relate the deaths of older relations to the stress and violence of those days. The book is brilliantly written. An energetic imagination relates characters and situations vividly and movingly. There is a coherent and authentic young voice throughout. In the closing story a character Rowan confronts an older person, Shane who doesn't want to dwell on the past and tells him he'll get over it. Rowan is furious and the older character is saying that the past is behind us and best left there. This presents us with a counter to the image of Lyra McKee who is taken to symbolise the generation that has moved on. There can be no question that Liadan is a major artist, an impressively evocative writer but there is naïveté and warped perspective here too. That last story ends the book with a passionate litany of many of those who were killed by British soldiers during the Troubles, many of the soldiers being defended by their own officers and by government ministers; few were charged and convicted of murder. The scandal of murders by soldiers is well recorded yet few have ever been held accountable. But Ní Chuinn's vision of the cause of conflict presents the British army as the main source of grief. And this book is not alone in thinking like that. The First Minister, Michelle O'Neill, who has said that there was no alternative to the IRA campaign, has recently spoken of how she and those around her were moved by the horror of young men being killed by soldiers. That conviction that the primary evil, the most damnable source of grief and grievance was the British army may be reality for some but what is missing here is context. Most of the killing was done by the IRA and by loyalist paramilitary groups. How can that simply be forgotten or discounted as irrelevant? There is danger in that blindness for that simplistic account of our past is what drives the dissident republicans still, the ones who couldn't compromise for peace, the ones who shot Lyra McKee. See More: Lyra McKee, Northern Ireland, Troubles
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Irish Times
Entrenched views remain barrier to a proper discussion about Irish unity
I was in Belfast last week, speaking at Féile an Phobail about the legacy of the historian Éamon Phoenix, who died in 2022 . A gifted and powerful communicator, Phoenix did much to promote nuanced understanding of the evolution of Northern Ireland (NI), its Troubles, texture and achievements. He was a particular expert on the plight of the Northern nationalists whose experiences he analysed in his 1994 book, Northern nationalism: nationalist politics, partition and the Catholic minority in Northern Ireland 1890-1940. Phoenix underlined the 'trauma of partition' and its impact on those left 'marooned' in the new NI. This had profound implications, deepened by a fracturing of northern nationalism regarding what attitude to adopt to the new realities. The death of Michael Collins in 1922 was also a complicating factor; he was regarded as 'the only Sinn Féin leader for whom partition and the plight of Northern nationalists were a major concern'. But that same Sinn Féin, Phoenix noted, had 'naively' believed that when partition was imposed, it was doomed and 'stillborn', meaning there was hostility to a 'united nationalist movement which might hope to defend the minority interest within the constitutional framework of Northern Ireland'. Hopes rested on the outcome of the Boundary Commission (BC), the origins of which Phoenix was the first to skilfully document using British and Irish state papers. The recommendations of the BC report, which were leaked in 1925, were far from the stuff of nationalist dreams and even proposed that NI would gain part of Donegal. The report was suppressed and the Border remained as it was. It was a devastating blow to Northern nationalists, but it did offer stark clarity; as Phoenix put it, the fiasco 'dispelled the uncertainty which had overshadowed Northern Catholics since 1916'. A century on, the related themes of vulnerability and frustration are far from irrelevant. The peace process, demographic and political shifts, Brexit and the demise of unionist supremacy have of course radically altered the balance of power. But another theme Phoenix highlighted – the perceived indifference of southern Irish governments to advancing the aims of Northern nationalists – remains contentious. Colum Eastwood , the former SDLP leader, also spoke at Féile an Phobail and voiced his perturbance at the lack of discourse about this. READ MORE Northern nationalists, the argument goes, cannot settle for mere aspirations or slogans Speaking of his desire for Irish unification even if it meant he had 'to eat grass', Eastwood insisted the unity discussion should be part of the upcoming presidential election . Earlier this year, Eastwood wrote in this newspaper of it being 'starkly clear' to him that 'southern establishment views on partition . . . require a new and radical challenge', as 'atrophied attitudes' have become 'a barrier to a real national conversation about the future'. Northern nationalists, the argument goes, cannot settle for mere aspirations or slogans, and Eastwood insists 'it is an abdication of responsibility to tell people that change is on hold indefinitely'. There are clear echoes here of the complaints of 1925, as when Cahir Healy, the nationalist MP for Fermanagh and Tyrone, declared the Free State government had agreed 'to a partition forever'. The sense of abandonment endured. At the outbreak of the Troubles in 1969, Hugh McCann, secretary of the Irish department of external affairs, brought his new minister Patrick Hillery on a tour of Iveagh House and was asked by the Minister 'Where is the Northern Ireland desk?' There wasn't one. Diplomat Seán Donlon, with responsibility for assessing the situation in NI for the Irish government, met SDLP members in October 1973 and they described the then Irish government's attitude as 'generally partitionist and indicated Dublin may not be sincere in its approach to Irish unity'. When Charles Haughey became Fianna Fáil leader in 1979, he claimed NI constituted 'the first national issue', but Donlon told the British ambassador no one in Iveagh House had 'any meaningful talk' with Haughey on the subject. It was also revealing that when the Anglo-Irish Agreement was signed in 1985, giving the Republic a say in the future of Northern Ireland, SDLP leader John Hume declared: 'For the first time our people have been treated with total confidence.' This was a full 60 years after the BC report. In April 1998, just before the signing of the Belfast Agreement, an Irish government official noted 'while the Irish government does not have a direct negotiating role, we are working intensively with the SDLP on tactics and drafting'. Yet what is striking now is the wide chasm between the SDLP and Fianna Fáil. Not long ago, there was talk of a merger between the two parties, but relations imploded. It is now more common for former Fine Gael taoiseach Leo Varadkar than Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin to voice desires for unity and insist on advancing plans for a border poll. The mental borders complained of by Eastwood continue to sour matters.
The Irish Sun
4 days ago
- The Irish Sun
Two charged on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts and attempted murder attack on senior detective John Caldwell
The PSNI said that detectives from Serious Crime Branch had charged the two men POLICE PROBE Two charged on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts and attempted murder attack on senior detective John Caldwell TWO men have been charged to appear in court on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts and perverting the course of justice in connection with the attempted murder of DCI John Caldwell. The PSNI said on Tuesday that detectives from Serious Crime Branch had charged the two men following their arrests and subsequent detention under the Terrorism Act on Monday. Advertisement A 45-year-old man, arrested in the Stewartstown area and a man aged 25, arrested in west Belfast, have both been charged with the preparation of terrorist acts and perverting the course of justice. They are due to appear at Dungannon Magistrates' Court on Wednesday morning. As is usual procedure, all charges will be reviewed by the Public Prosecution Service. DCI John Caldwell is a police officer in Omagh, Northern Ireland. Advertisement He was shot while coaching an underage Gaelic football team at around 8pm on February 22, 2023. One of the children at the coaching session was his son. He is a well known face on TV in Northern Ireland, previously speaking at press conferences and appeals. What happened to John Caldwell? Advertisement DCI Caldwell was blasted a "number of times" by masked gunmen in front of his son and the young people he was coaching as he loaded footballs into his car. The cop fell to the ground as he attempted to run, with the shooters continuing to fire at him. A "brave" member of the public has been praised after rushing towards DCI Caldwell to administer first aid. An attempted murder probe has been launched with political leaders in the UK and Ireland condemning the horror. Advertisement Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he was appalled by the "disgraceful shooting of an off-duty police officer in Omagh". While Irish premier Leo Varadkar condemned the "grotesque act of attempted murder". Around 70 young people were at Youth Sport Omagh when the gun attack happened, local sources told Belfast Live. The attack is the most serious on a police officer since the murder of Ronan Kerr, 25, in 2011 in Omagh. Advertisement He was killed by a bomb that had been attached under his car just outside his home. Omagh was also the scene of a bombing carried out by dissident republicans on August 15, 1998, which killed 29 people. The car bombing was the worst single atrocity of the Troubles. It was perpetrated by a group calling themselves the Real Irish Republican Army, an IRA splinter group who opposed the ceasefire and the Good Friday Agreement. Advertisement
