Politicians urged to support new Troubles probe body

The man taking over responsibility for investigating unresolved Troubles deaths has challenged politicians in Northern Ireland to “step up” and support his work.

Peter Sheridan is commissioner for investigations at the new Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR), which has become operational.

Mr Sheridan, a former senior police officer, said dealing with legacy was the “outstanding issue” still to be resolved from the Troubles.

The ICRIR was created by the government’s Legacy Act despite widespread opposition from political parties, victims’ organisations in Northern Ireland and the Irish government.

From today, all civil litigation and inquests into Troubles deaths will be stopped.

Ongoing prosecutions will continue to conclusion.

Bereaved families, victims and certain public authorities can request the ICRIR carry out an investigation.

The commission can refer cases for prosecution and can also deliver findings reports based on the balance of probabilities.

But Troubles victims and survivors have been heavily critical of the Legacy Act, which they believe is shutting down access to justice and truth.

In an interview with the PA news agency, Mr Sheridan said he was not naive about the “contested nature” of the legislation which created the ICRIR.

He added: “Given time, we hope that by dealing with victims and survivors, by putting them front and centre right the way through the process, hopefully that starts to build confidence in that community as they talk to each other.

“But it also requires other people to step up, to start to support the commission, including our politicians.”

Mr Sheridan said he understood that some people would continue to “sit on the sidelines” while legal challenges to the Legacy Act played out.

He added: “But then the question is, once those things are dealt with, what then?

“At some stage, people who constantly say they are there to support victims and survivors then have to demonstrate what they are going to do about it.

“I mean across the board, state agencies, political parties are going to have to step up and demonstrate how are they going to support the work of the commission to get information for victims and survivors.”

Mr Sheridan formerly served as a police officer in the RUC and PSNI and as chief of the peacebuilding organisation Co-Operation Ireland.

He said: “This (legacy) is I think the outstanding issue of the conflict and we have to resolve this in this generation.

“Young people I talk to, this is not their conflict, yet we are foisting it on them because we don’t have the capacity, we haven’t had any agreement how we are going to deal with this and we are leaving it to another generation.

“Inter-generational trauma is starting to happen.

“Having argued all of this through Co-operation Ireland, I can’t walk away and say that is somebody else’s job.”

People who constantly say they are there to support victims and survivors then have to demonstrate what they are going to do about it