Let’s use Gaddafi’s wealth to help IRA victims

As her premiership draws to a close Theresa May has the opportunity to right an appalling wrong

It was revealed this week that, in the past three years, the British government has taken £17million in tax from £12billion of Libyan assets linked to Colonel Gaddafi, which are frozen in the UK.

There is a strong moral and legal case for this money to fund a compensation scheme for the victims of the IRA.

During the Troubles, Gaddafi armed the IRA with Semtex. He supplied weapons that undoubtedly contributed to the lengthening of the terrorist campaign.

Those weapons targeted innocent citizens of the United Kingdom, cutting short some lives and changing others forever.

Those people did not deserve such an injustice. Nor do they deserve the subsequent inaction that has added

to their pain over the years. The victims of the IRA’s atrocities are dying without justice or recognition for the physical and mental trauma they have had to endure.

Yet here is a source of revenue from which compensation could be drawn while attempts are made to progress a proper compensation scheme with Libya.

Clearly the situation on the ground in Libya means finalising a deal is very difficult. But our own government has the opportunity and the means to do something to support the victims immediately. It should act.

While justice is denied to British victims, US victims of Libyansponsored terrorism have already been compensated, under the US-Libya Claims Settlement Agreement of 2008.

In 2004, Libya agreed to pay $1million (£541,000) compensation to the families of each of the 170 people killed in the bombing of UTA flight 772 in 1989.

Later in the same year the German government secured $35million (£19million) for those killed in the 1986 bombing of the La Belle discotheque in Berlin.

Yet no such deal has been reached for British victims following the failures of the Blair government to pursue our case properly.

After all these years, our own citizens have received nothing but warm words and sympathy.

This should be an embarrassment for our Government.

In the final days of her premiership, the Prime Minister should take decisive action and begin righting this terrible wrong.

Progress towards a proper outcome for innocent people such as those killed or injured in the Enniskillen Remembrance day bomb would be a truly lasting legacy.

I accept that this is a stopgap solution. The UK taxpayer should not be out of pocket for the actions of an evil dictator like Gaddafi, but if we wait until there is a political settlement with Libya then I fear many of the victims who suffered as a result of Libyan Semtex and guns will never see a single penny.

They will have died without justice and without any proper compensation.

The appointment of William Shawcross as the Special Representative on this matter has been a significant achievement for the campaign.

As a former chairman of the Charity Commission, he is well placed to establish the facts and a template for proper redress.

It is vital to establish how many victims could potentially qualify for such compensation, what levels of compensation should be requested and how the issue can be best progressed.

The Government has a clear moral duty to support our citizens, particularly those who have suffered so much.

Compensation for victims of Libyan-sponsored terrorism is an ongoing injustice that must be addressed.

We in the DUP will continue to support all efforts in a campaign that has been running for many years now.

Throughout that time the needs of those who have suffered at the hands of the IRA have grown, but so too has the sense of injustice felt by those victims.

Victims of terrorism from all parts of the United Kingdom deserve to be treated properly.

Whether the terrorism happened in Belfast or Birmingham, the US or Germany, should not matter – the suffering was the same.

Nigel Dodds MP is deputy leader of the DUP