Empey calls for release of Ira-libya victims report
Delay in making document public ‘latest in a long line of failings’
UNIONISTS are piling pressure on the Government to publish a report into compensation for victims of IRA attacks linked to Libyan explosives.
Ulster Unionist peer Lord Empey yesterday backed calls by the Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Louise Haigh MP for the Government to release the report carried out by William Shawcross into compensation for UK victims of Libyan sponsored terrorism.
Gaddafi supplied weapons and explosives to the IRA during the Troubles.
His Semtex is thought to have enabled blasts at a Remembrance Day service in Enniskillen in 1987 which killed 12 people and the Warrington bombings in 1992 which left two children dead, as well as other IRA attacks.
A decade on from Gaddafi’s death, relatives of those killed continue to campaign for compensation from the current Libyan authorities.
William Shawcross was appointed by the Government to look at compensation for victims. His report was delivered to the Government last year, but has so far not been published.
A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said ministers are “carefully considering the complex issues” raised.
But Lord Empey said: “There is no question that the victims of Libyan sponsored terror — mainly delivered by the IRA — have been very shabbily treated by successive governments for literally decades.
“The failure to release the Shawcross report which they have had since May 2020 is simply the latest in a long line of failings.”
In 2019, it was reported the UK Government has collected £17m in tax on £12bn of frozen Libyan assets hoarded by Colonel Mummer Gaddafi in the UK.
Lord Empey has tried at Westminster to ensure the release of frozen Libyan assets in London to compensate victims, but to no avail.
The DUP’S Ian Paisley and SDLP leader Colum Eastwood recently signed a letter from a group of cross-party MPS demanding immediate publication of the Shawcross report.
The DUP MP said yesterday: “Despite the report having been submitted to Ministers months ago it has not been published and remains secret.
“Victims across the UK who suffered at the hands of weapons and explosives supplied to the IRA by Gaddafi remain without justice and have been denied access to the recommendations made by Mr Shawcross.
“There is clear support from across the House of Commons, including within the Conservative Party for the publication of this report. It is time the Government delivered on their obligation to victims to do so.”