Victims of IRA’S Libya bomb supply denied compensation

MINISTERS have refused to help set up a compensation fund for the families of Britons murdered by IRA bombs made from Libyan-supplied explosives.

Earlier this year MPS recommended the Government adopt a “fresh approach” to secure compensation for victims of IRA attacks using Gaddafisupplied Semtex.

However, the Government has said that a UK reparations fund for victims is not a “viable option” and that any compensation claims are “private matters”.

The Government also said it was not in the UK national interest to use political or financial support to Libya as leverage to secure compensation for victims. Bombings which used toppled dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s weapons included the Harrods department store in 1983, an Enniskillen Remembrance Sunday ceremony in 1987, Warrington in 1993 and London Docklands in 1996.

MPS on the Northern Ireland committee which called for the Government-backed compensation fund said the response “will be deeply disappointing to victims”. Kate Hoey, a Labour MP, added: “The Government response is as unsurprising as it is unacceptable.”

Lawyers have been seeking billions of pounds in compensation for the British victims of IRA attacks that used Libyan-supplied Semtex and for the families of those who were killed.