Latest news with #NorthernIrelandAffairsCommittee
The Independent
21-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
ICRIR given advice over enabling potential meetings for victims and perpetrators
Northern Ireland's legacy body received advice around a potential move to enable victims and perpetrators to meet where there is a desire to, a Westminster committee has heard. Sir Declan Morgan, chief commissioner at the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) said 'extreme caution would be needed'. Addressing the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee on Wednesday, Sir Declan said they have considered actions beyond compiling a report on murders and atrocities from the region's troubled past. 'We've looked at whether if victims want to meet perpetrators, or representatives of perpetrators, whether there should be a mechanism for them to do so,' he told MPs. 'The first thing about anything that goes beyond the report that we produce is that it must be victim led. 'It's not for the perpetrator to make any decision about this, it must be victim led. 'We had our external assurance group reflect on how this might be done, and what the mechanisms might be, and the advice back to us is that it is certainly worth thinking about something after the report has been prepared where there might be a way of enabling some kind of meeting between the victim and the perpetrator, but the advice is that you need to be astonishingly careful about this because the danger is that you will actually retraumatise the victim. 'I think if it is going to be contemplated, I would have thought the most sensible thing to do is to think carefully about it and then to run something as a pilot rather than just to put it into the legislation wholesale. 'But I can't overemphasise the advice to us from the external assurance group, which included some experienced people in this territory that you need to be very careful.' ICRIR commissioner for investigations Peter Sheridan, who in a former role brought together an IRA man and the widow of the police officer he murdered, also appeared at the committee. He said, when he was chief executive of peacebuilding charity Co-operation Ireland, he was approached by the widow over meeting the perpetrator. 'I didn't know her, she wanted to meet the perpetrator of her husband's murder, I didn't know him either but through a process I got the two of them together,' he told MPs. 'I went into the room with them, I said to them, 'look, I feel like this is a private conversation', and the widow said to me, 'no, I want you to stay'. 'I have never broken the confidence of what was said in that room between them. 'Except two things struck me about it, one was how respectful the conversation was, even though this person had been involved in the murder of her husband, but secondly the questions this lady was asking. 'She wasn't asking what I would have thought as an investigator, she was asking simple things, 'were you following our kids to school at the weekend, did you follow them to the swimming pool, were you looking through our windows at night time'. 'These were things that were with her for over 40 years, and she rhymed them off, it wasn't just that this was somehow today she thought about them, this had been in her mind. 'And he answered them, and answered them honestly, and then told his own story, and I left with the two of them embracing. 'That was one sense of reconciliation for those two people, not every victim wants to meet the perpetrator but I do see that there are other opportunities, and it is one of the reasons why I put my hand up to apply for the commission because I could see that there were other possibilities in it.'
South Wales Argus
21-05-2025
- Politics
- South Wales Argus
Legacy body ‘lacks powers of a public inquiry to examine Sean Brown murder'
The Irish Government is among those who have backed Mr Brown's family's long campaign for a public inquiry. Earlier this month, the Court of Appeal in Belfast affirmed a previous court ruling, compelling the UK government to hold a public inquiry into his killing. However, Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn has applied for a Supreme Court appeal on the judicial rulings. Bridie Brown, the widow of murdered GAA official Sean Brown, holds a picture of him, outside the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast (PA) Mr Brown, 61, the then chairman of Wolfe Tones GAA Club in the Co Londonderry town of Bellaghy, was ambushed, kidnapped and murdered by loyalist paramilitaries as he locked the gates of the club in May 1997. No-one has ever been convicted of his killing. Preliminary inquest proceedings last year heard that in excess of 25 people had been linked by intelligence to the murder, including several state agents. It was also alleged in court that surveillance of a suspect in the murder was temporarily stopped on the evening of the killing, only to resume again the following morning. In an interview earlier, Mr Brown's elderly widow Bridie, 87, said she does not know why her husband was killed, and reiterated her call for a public inquiry into his death to answer the questions her family has. 'I don't know why they chose Sean, I just do not know because he was the same with everybody,' she said during an interview on BBC's The GAA Social podcast. 'He treated everybody alike, he walked with both sides of the community.' She also paid tribute to the turnout of thousands in Bellaghy last Friday evening to support her family's campaign for a public inquiry. People in the town of Bellaghy, Co Londonderry, which came to a standstill on Friday night as they took part in a march in support of the family of Sean Brown (PA) 'It was emotional,' she said. 'Never in my wildest dreams had I thought about so big a turnout.' Last month, Mr Benn said he is taking steps to ensure that the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) is capable of carrying out an independent and rigorous investigation into Mr Brown's murder. During an appearance at the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, ICRIR chief commissioner Sir Declan Morgan was pressed by SDLP leader Claire Hanna on the Brown case. Sir Declan said if the case came to the ICRIR, his investigators would carry out a cold case review, a scoping exercise and would treat the case as a criminal investigation and gather all the evidence. 'But I agree that we could not do the next step which is subsequent to that, once the terms of reference have been set, and up to that point, we're definitely Article 2 compliant,' he told MPs at the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee. 'But the next bit is having identified what the issues are to then organise a hearing with proper representation by lawyers in relation to that, and also understanding that the sensitive information arrangements, in my view, need to be reviewed and the commission needs to be able to exercise proper challenge in relation to those.' Claire Hanna has supported the Brown family (MP) Speaking outside the meeting, Ms Hanna said the ICRIR in its current form 'cannot fully meet the needs of the family of Sean Brown'. 'Today's comments from Sir Declan Morgan are welcome and shine a light on where the ICRIR falls short,' she said. 'Any further delay to the resuming and restarting of inquests alongside the continued denial of a public inquiry to the Brown family is the British Government delaying truth and justice. 'The SDLP is committed to the delivery of legacy structures that families can buy into. Sir Declan's comments underline our key concerns about deficiencies relating to participation by families in proceedings and the continued existence of a veto on information by the Secretary of State.'
Leader Live
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Leader Live
Legacy body ‘lacks powers of a public inquiry to examine Sean Brown murder'
The Irish Government is among those who have backed Mr Brown's family's long campaign for a public inquiry. Earlier this month, the Court of Appeal in Belfast affirmed a previous court ruling, compelling the UK government to hold a public inquiry into his killing. However, Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn has applied for a Supreme Court appeal on the judicial rulings. Mr Brown, 61, the then chairman of Wolfe Tones GAA Club in the Co Londonderry town of Bellaghy, was ambushed, kidnapped and murdered by loyalist paramilitaries as he locked the gates of the club in May 1997. No-one has ever been convicted of his killing. Preliminary inquest proceedings last year heard that in excess of 25 people had been linked by intelligence to the murder, including several state agents. It was also alleged in court that surveillance of a suspect in the murder was temporarily stopped on the evening of the killing, only to resume again the following morning. In an interview earlier, Mr Brown's elderly widow Bridie, 87, said she does not know why her husband was killed, and reiterated her call for a public inquiry into his death to answer the questions her family has. 'I don't know why they chose Sean, I just do not know because he was the same with everybody,' she said during an interview on BBC's The GAA Social podcast. 'He treated everybody alike, he walked with both sides of the community.' She also paid tribute to the turnout of thousands in Bellaghy last Friday evening to support her family's campaign for a public inquiry. 'It was emotional,' she said. 'Never in my wildest dreams had I thought about so big a turnout.' Last month, Mr Benn said he is taking steps to ensure that the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) is capable of carrying out an independent and rigorous investigation into Mr Brown's murder. During an appearance at the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, ICRIR chief commissioner Sir Declan Morgan was pressed by SDLP leader Claire Hanna on the Brown case. Sir Declan said if the case came to the ICRIR, his investigators would carry out a cold case review, a scoping exercise and would treat the case as a criminal investigation and gather all the evidence. 'But I agree that we could not do the next step which is subsequent to that, once the terms of reference have been set, and up to that point, we're definitely Article 2 compliant,' he told MPs at the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee. 'But the next bit is having identified what the issues are to then organise a hearing with proper representation by lawyers in relation to that, and also understanding that the sensitive information arrangements, in my view, need to be reviewed and the commission needs to be able to exercise proper challenge in relation to those.' Speaking outside the meeting, Ms Hanna said the ICRIR in its current form 'cannot fully meet the needs of the family of Sean Brown'. 'Today's comments from Sir Declan Morgan are welcome and shine a light on where the ICRIR falls short,' she said. 'Any further delay to the resuming and restarting of inquests alongside the continued denial of a public inquiry to the Brown family is the British Government delaying truth and justice. 'The SDLP is committed to the delivery of legacy structures that families can buy into. Sir Declan's comments underline our key concerns about deficiencies relating to participation by families in proceedings and the continued existence of a veto on information by the Secretary of State.'
Powys County Times
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Powys County Times
Legacy body ‘lacks powers of a public inquiry to examine Sean Brown murder'
The head of a legacy body has conceded it does not have the same array of powers that a public inquiry would to examine the murder of GAA official Sean Brown. The Irish Government is among those who have backed Mr Brown's family's long campaign for a public inquiry. Earlier this month, the Court of Appeal in Belfast affirmed a previous court ruling, compelling the UK government to hold a public inquiry into his killing. However, Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn has applied for a Supreme Court appeal on the judicial rulings. Mr Brown, 61, the then chairman of Wolfe Tones GAA Club in the Co Londonderry town of Bellaghy, was ambushed, kidnapped and murdered by loyalist paramilitaries as he locked the gates of the club in May 1997. No-one has ever been convicted of his killing. Preliminary inquest proceedings last year heard that in excess of 25 people had been linked by intelligence to the murder, including several state agents. It was also alleged in court that surveillance of a suspect in the murder was temporarily stopped on the evening of the killing, only to resume again the following morning. In an interview earlier, Mr Brown's elderly widow Bridie, 87, said she does not know why her husband was killed, and reiterated her call for a public inquiry into his death to answer the questions her family has. 'I don't know why they chose Sean, I just do not know because he was the same with everybody,' she said during an interview on BBC's The GAA Social podcast. 'He treated everybody alike, he walked with both sides of the community.' She also paid tribute to the turnout of thousands in Bellaghy last Friday evening to support her family's campaign for a public inquiry. 'It was emotional,' she said. 'Never in my wildest dreams had I thought about so big a turnout.' Last month, Mr Benn said he is taking steps to ensure that the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) is capable of carrying out an independent and rigorous investigation into Mr Brown's murder. During an appearance at the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, ICRIR chief commissioner Sir Declan Morgan was pressed by SDLP leader Claire Hanna on the Brown case. Sir Declan said if the case came to the ICRIR, his investigators would carry out a cold case review, a scoping exercise and would treat the case as a criminal investigation and gather all the evidence. 'But I agree that we could not do the next step which is subsequent to that, once the terms of reference have been set, and up to that point, we're definitely Article 2 compliant,' he told MPs at the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee. 'But the next bit is having identified what the issues are to then organise a hearing with proper representation by lawyers in relation to that, and also understanding that the sensitive information arrangements, in my view, need to be reviewed and the commission needs to be able to exercise proper challenge in relation to those.' Speaking outside the meeting, Ms Hanna said the ICRIR in its current form 'cannot fully meet the needs of the family of Sean Brown'. 'Today's comments from Sir Declan Morgan are welcome and shine a light on where the ICRIR falls short,' she said. 'Any further delay to the resuming and restarting of inquests alongside the continued denial of a public inquiry to the Brown family is the British Government delaying truth and justice. 'The SDLP is committed to the delivery of legacy structures that families can buy into. Sir Declan's comments underline our key concerns about deficiencies relating to participation by families in proceedings and the continued existence of a veto on information by the Secretary of State.'
The Herald Scotland
21-05-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Legacy body ‘lacks powers of a public inquiry to examine Sean Brown murder'
Earlier this month, the Court of Appeal in Belfast affirmed a previous court ruling, compelling the UK government to hold a public inquiry into his killing. However, Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn has applied for a Supreme Court appeal on the judicial rulings. Bridie Brown, the widow of murdered GAA official Sean Brown, holds a picture of him, outside the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast (PA) Mr Brown, 61, the then chairman of Wolfe Tones GAA Club in the Co Londonderry town of Bellaghy, was ambushed, kidnapped and murdered by loyalist paramilitaries as he locked the gates of the club in May 1997. No-one has ever been convicted of his killing. Preliminary inquest proceedings last year heard that in excess of 25 people had been linked by intelligence to the murder, including several state agents. It was also alleged in court that surveillance of a suspect in the murder was temporarily stopped on the evening of the killing, only to resume again the following morning. In an interview earlier, Mr Brown's elderly widow Bridie, 87, said she does not know why her husband was killed, and reiterated her call for a public inquiry into his death to answer the questions her family has. 'I don't know why they chose Sean, I just do not know because he was the same with everybody,' she said during an interview on BBC's The GAA Social podcast. 'He treated everybody alike, he walked with both sides of the community.' She also paid tribute to the turnout of thousands in Bellaghy last Friday evening to support her family's campaign for a public inquiry. People in the town of Bellaghy, Co Londonderry, which came to a standstill on Friday night as they took part in a march in support of the family of Sean Brown (PA) 'It was emotional,' she said. 'Never in my wildest dreams had I thought about so big a turnout.' Last month, Mr Benn said he is taking steps to ensure that the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) is capable of carrying out an independent and rigorous investigation into Mr Brown's murder. During an appearance at the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, ICRIR chief commissioner Sir Declan Morgan was pressed by SDLP leader Claire Hanna on the Brown case. Sir Declan said if the case came to the ICRIR, his investigators would carry out a cold case review, a scoping exercise and would treat the case as a criminal investigation and gather all the evidence. 'But I agree that we could not do the next step which is subsequent to that, once the terms of reference have been set, and up to that point, we're definitely Article 2 compliant,' he told MPs at the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee. 'But the next bit is having identified what the issues are to then organise a hearing with proper representation by lawyers in relation to that, and also understanding that the sensitive information arrangements, in my view, need to be reviewed and the commission needs to be able to exercise proper challenge in relation to those.' Claire Hanna has supported the Brown family (MP) Speaking outside the meeting, Ms Hanna said the ICRIR in its current form 'cannot fully meet the needs of the family of Sean Brown'. 'Today's comments from Sir Declan Morgan are welcome and shine a light on where the ICRIR falls short,' she said. 'Any further delay to the resuming and restarting of inquests alongside the continued denial of a public inquiry to the Brown family is the British Government delaying truth and justice. 'The SDLP is committed to the delivery of legacy structures that families can buy into. Sir Declan's comments underline our key concerns about deficiencies relating to participation by families in proceedings and the continued existence of a veto on information by the Secretary of State.'
