Chai Brady
Bishop Donal McKeown, Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Down and Connor Families will be left in a “permanent limbo” if they are denied any way to discover the truth about loved ones who were killed during the Troubles, the bishop of Derry diocese has warned.
Following indications that the British government could grant amnesty to all killings during the conflict, and the collapse of several high-profile legacy cases, Bishop McKeown said for many families the courts have been the only way to find truth.
“My perspective is that there are many families who have never been able to get the truth about what happened to their loved ones who were killed. Whether by army or by paramilitaries, at present, the court route is the only way they can seek any truth,” Bishop McKeown said.
“The British Government has essentially said that they wanted to draw a line under it and that everyone is given amnesty. That all soldiers and paramilitaries get amnesties, which leaves the families of the innocent victims with no access to information at all,” he said.
“If you have no way of getting the truth you are simply left in a permanent limbo. All they could do was go through the courts and the courts have been slammed in their faces so there’s nothing.”
Bishop McKeown said the Northern Ireland Executive “have failed to put any other process in place to get truth”.
The Stormont House Agreement, signed in December 2014, was supposed to create a truth recovery mechanism. “If you want the truth what do you do? Nothing. It simply hasn’t been implemented, the Stormont House Agreement,” said Bishop McKeown.
Last week the Wave Trauma centre, a cross community group representing victims and survivors of the Troubles wrote an open letter to Boris Johnson saying it would be fundamentally wrong to grant amnesty.
“If anyone in Downing Street or the Ministry of Defence or the Northern Ireland Office seriously thinks that an amnesty of this nature can form the foundation upon which reconciliation could be built then it shows how little they understand the nature of the pain and trauma which continues to be suffered by victims and survivors and their families,” the group wrote.