Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
This small step can help ensure victims receive the redress and financial aid they so greatly deserve
Compo could hit £1.2billion after judge’s ruling
This decision exonorates & vindicates victims who tirelessly fought for this DARRAGH MACKIN HIGH COURT BELFAST YESTERDAY
STORMONT’S Executive Office has formally pledged to pay for a Troubles pension scheme, the Court of Appeal heard yesterday.
The Department of Finance will make the necessary funding available to ensure eligible victims and survivors receive compensation.
The confirmation brings an end to a long-running legal battle about who should cover the potential cost of up to £1.2billion.
With Stormont and Westminster locked in a dispute over responsibility, Northern Ireland’s most senior judge had issued an ultimatum for the Executive Office to either agree to fund the scheme or be ordered to act. A letter sent on behalf of the Executive Office stated: “The First Minister, Deputy First Minister, the Justice Minister and Finance Minister, being mindful the victims and survivors who will be recipients of the payment should not be distressed or concerned, acknowledge the payment is an entitlement as indicated by the court, and regardless of whether it comes from Westminster or from our block grant, it will be paid when it is due.”
The correspondence set out a series of interlinked pledges.
First Minister Arlene Foster, Deputy First Minister Michelle O’neill and Finance Minister Conor Murphy “undertake on behalf of their respective departments that payments will be made to successful applicants”.
When the Department of Justice requests funding, the Executive Office is to be provided with the required money “without delay”.
The letter added: “It will then, on receipt of such funding, make the necessary grants to the Department of Justice in response to its requests for funding.
“Ministers will continue to progress financial discussions with the NIO on the basis it remains their shared view the scheme should be funded by the Westminster government as an addition to the Block Grant, and in a manner consistent with the statement of funding.”
Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan agreed a “satisfactory”
undertaking has been received. The development concluded a legal action mounted by one of the so-called Hooded Men, Brian Turley.
His challenge had continued since the High Court ruled in August last year that the Executive Office deliberately stymied the introduction of the scheme in a bid to force the UK government into footing the bill.
With no order made to provide grant funding, he appealed that outcome in a bid to ensure the necessary financial package is immediately put in place.
He was among 14 men detained, forced to wear hoods and subjected to special interrogation by the British military in the early 1970s. Mr Turley took the original challenge to delays in implementing the pension scheme with Jennifier Mcnern, who lost both legs in an IRA bomb in Belfast in 1972.
Outside court his solicitor, Darragh Mackin of Phoenix Law said: “This decision exonerates and vindicates our client and the other victims who tirelessly fought for this day.
“After years of suffering, it is hoped this small step can ensure those victims will receive the necessary redress and financial assistance they so greatly deserve.”
Victims campaigner Kenny Donaldson said: “The key part within the correspondence was the acknowledgement that ‘the payment is an entitlement as indicated by the court, and regardless of whether it comes from Westminster or block grant, it will be paid when it is due’.
“This will be met positively by many victims and survivors impacted by permanent disablement brought about through their exposure to terrorism and other Troubles related events”.
“It is important the scheme opens as soon as there is a robust process in place for managing applications submitted.
“We reiterate our position which is long held, that terrorists or other perpetrators of criminal based actions must not be recipients of this scheme, if that were to happen then it would compromise its integrity. We also continue to assert the need for an appropriate reparations scheme to be developed acknowledging the bereaved of The Troubles.
“Compensation – or in some cases non-compensation – at the time of brutal murders was derisory and shameful and that must be put right, and we will continue to campaign in this regard.
“The Republic must also get its act finally together and introduce comparable provision for citizens living in its jurisdiction who were impacted by Troubles related events within the Republic. It is unacceptable such individuals should be retreated differently.