{"id":34949,"date":"2025-09-21T18:06:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T18:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/34949\/"},"modified":"2025-09-21T18:06:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T18:06:07","slug":"latest-northern-ireland-legacy-deal-fails-the-test-victims-group-says-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/34949\/","title":{"rendered":"Latest Northern Ireland legacy deal fails the test, victims\u2019 group says \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Changes to legacy legislation agreed by Dublin and London<\/a> fail to guarantee that the Irish State will investigate its own failings during the Troubles, an influential victims\u2019 group has said.<\/p>\n

The South East Fermanagh Foundation (SEFF), which represents families of those killed by paramilitaries during the Troubles on both sides of the Border, said a path \u201cto pursue justice, truth and accountability\u201d has always been its core demand.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything short of the Irish State contributing on an equal footing to the UK state with comparable oversight and independence structures would not be tolerable,\u201d said SEFF\u2019s director, Kenny Donaldson.<\/p>\n

Saying the group was \u201cunderwhelmed\u201d by the pledges made by the Irish Government on Friday, he added: \u201cThere is just insufficient detail on the table for us to put our hands up in support of this joint framework. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe will be pressing the Irish Government for further detail and absolute clarity on their position and how this will reflect in actual actions,\u201d Mr Donaldson told The Irish Times on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\"SEFFSEFF director Kenny Donaldson. Photograph: Dan Dennison <\/p>\n

The British\/Irish deal could and should have dealt with \u201clingering issues of concern\u201d, including the letters of comfort given by the British authorities to fugitive IRA members telling them they were no longer \u201cwanted\u201d so could return without fear of arrest.<\/p>\n

In addition, Mr Donaldson focused on a declaration from the former attorney general, Michael McDowell<\/a>, that the Irish State gave an amnesty in all but name to IRA suspects after 1998, deciding to pursue no more prosecutions.<\/p>\n

Regarding prosecutions of members of the British army<\/a> and the Royal Ulster Constabulary<\/a>, he said: \u201cIf someone wearing the uniform is deemed to have acted criminally, then due process should follow, just as we expect would happen with terrorists.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, SEFF opposes \u201cthe persecution\u201d of people previously exonerated by investigations. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere must be no further state complicity with the retrospective targeting and vilification of those who acted to thwart terrorism, and ultimately to save lives,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n

The organisation had outlined its views repeatedly to Dublin and London, emphasising the need for an end \u201cto the days of superficial and symbolic justice\u201d and replacement by change that delivers \u201cmaximum accountability of and from perpetrators\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn fully judging what\u2019s on the table we require to consider, does this new agreement offer a better prospect for victims\/survivors to obtain better outcomes? Whether they be through criminal, civil or information recovery pathways,\u201d <\/p>\n

If Dublin and London \u201crefuse to deal\u201d with their concerns, then they will prove that the motivation behind Friday\u2019s agreement \u201cis not about victims and survivors\u201d, or reconciliation, but a further example of the \u201cpolitics of appeasement\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Changes to legacy legislation agreed by Dublin and London fail to guarantee that the Irish State will investigate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34950,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[27236,9686,61,60,27238,24986,11598,43,2443,27237],"class_list":["post-34949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-british-army","tag-common-ground","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-republican-army","tag-legacy-act","tag-michael-mcdowell","tag-news","tag-northern-ireland","tag-ruc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}