Victims and veterans keeping close watch on Troubles legacy bill debate

Image caption, Patricia Burns' father was killed by a soldier in 1972

Legislation seeking to deal with the unresolved legacy of the decades-long violent conflict in Northern Ireland is finally making its way through Westminster.

The Troubles legacy bill returned to the House of Commons on Monday and MPs will continue their scrutiny of a series of government amendments on Tuesday.

The long-awaited legislation will have a wide-ranging social impact, and affect almost everyone, but especially victims' families and military veterans.

For people like Patricia Burns, whose father was shot dead by a soldier, and David Crabbe, who served in the Ulster Defence Regiment during the Troubles, the debate is especially important.

Last week, the government published hundreds of amendments, including that the attorney general must provide consent for any serious prosecutions related to the Troubles under the new plan.

On Monday, the Northern Ireland secretary rejected claims that planned changes to the bill amount to an "amnesty" for former soldiers.

MPs debated the bill for more than six hours on Monday evening as votes were held late into the night on the amendments.

If passed, the bill, which seeks to address the unresolved legacy of Northern Ireland's violent conflict, would then move to the House of Lords for further scrutiny.

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Published11 hours agoSpeaking in the Commons on Monday night, Northern Ireland secretary Sir Chris Bryant said thousands of families impacted by the Troubles have had to wait "far too long to get their answers".

"We can put this right. We can only put it right with a balanced set of amendments and a balanced bill," he told MPs.

A series of government amendments to the bill were passed on Monday night without going to a vote, while further changes are expected to be considered on Tuesday.

Father-of-four Thomas Burns, 32, was killed as he left a social club in north Belfast in 1972. He was hit in the chest by a soldier who opened fire from a watch tower, claiming to have seen a gunman.

In 2023, it was directed that another inquest be held, but it was cut short by the then-Conservative government's Legacy Act.

His daughter Patricia, who was aged six at the time of the shooting, said her family's priority was the inquest into her father's death.

"Each year that goes by is a year that we can't afford to lose," she said.

"Time is of the essence here and our inquest needs to be heard."

Burns described how what happened to her father had been at the "forefront of [her] mind for the past 30 years".

"I can't rest until this is resolved and my daddy's name is cleared," she said.

She added that the idea of moving "future prosecutions to England and Wales is disgusting".

She said she felt that people on juries there would "have no clue what went on here".

"These amendments, in my opinion, are completely centred around the perpetrator, not the victim. My daddy isn't coming into this," she said.

"In my lifetime, I really hope so much that someone in government will listen to the victims in all this and please just let us move on with our lives and just draw a line under it."

Image caption, David Crabbe is a member of the Victims and Survivors Forum

David Crabbe served in the Ulster Defence Regiment and the Royal Irish Regiment during the Troubles from 1977 to 2007.

A member of the Victims and Survivors Forum, he called on the bill to be "victim-centred".

He said the forum wanted "to ensure there is a fairness across the board" and that it "serves those many number of victims and survivors and bereaved families that want to get the answers to the questions they need".

"This has been a long time coming. We can't afford to kick the can down the road and subject future generations to the uncertainty of what happened to their loved ones and what the truth of the loss of their loved ones involved," he said.

Time is of the essence according to Crabbe.

"It needs to be done now because of this doesn't go through then you are years down the road and the clock is ticking for everyone," he added.

"The key message is to say that this is planning the future and we want to ensure a better future for our grandchildren, and their children and this is a huge potential step towards to obtaining that."

Image caption, Claire Hayes' brother was killed in the Omagh bomb in 1998

Claire Hayes' brother Alan Radford was killed in the Omagh bombing. She told BBC News NI that "justice needs to prevail".

She said that the Omagh bombing not being included in the legislation was "a sticking point" with her.

"It is something that doesn't sit very well with me.

"It should be included within the legacy. It has to be included in the legacy, and I would like it to be included in the legacy."

She said she feels decisions being made in London about prosecutions in NI was "a fair system given the fact that we have fallen".

"There has been no movement, very little movement for innocent victims of terrorism so unfortunately it is going to fall on them because we have failed to act," she added.

Image source, PA MediaImage caption, The Troubles was a period of conflict which lasted for 30 years and cost the lives of more than 3,500 people

It seeks to replace the previous Conservative government's contentious 2023 Legacy Act, which introduced a ban on inquests and civil actions related to Troubles-era incidents.

The act's most controversial element – offering immunity from prosecution to suspects who cooperated with an information recovery body – was disapplied after being found by the courts to be unlawful.

Labour's bill involves a legacy commission to investigate Troubles-related killings, a separate information recovery body, and a dedicated legacy unit within An Garda Síochána (Irish police).

The government said its amendments "significantly reduce" the prospect of military veterans facing "rinse and repeat" investigations.

The legislation will make clear the commission and coroners "must not regard the lawful conduct of members of the armed forces as equivalent to the actions of paramilitaries responsible for acts of terrorism"

The attorney general, currently Ellie Reeves, will be required to consent to all "serious" Troubles-related prosecutions

There would be measures to prevent "cold-calling" of veterans and extending provisions for remote attendance as part of the commission's work

Before any witness can be approached, the commission should consider if "compelling new evidence exists, or the likelihood of a witness being able to provide new information"

The commission must consider the "context and command orders" in which military veterans were operating

Former paramilitaries are barred from being appointed to the Victims and Survivors Advisory Group, and there is a requirement for at least one veteran or veterans' representative to be on the panel

There is a statutory review of the measures for veterans to ensure they "deliver as intended"

Opposition parties and backbench MPs have also tabled separate amendments aimed at changing the bill, but it is up to the Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle to decide whether any of them will be accepted for debate.