Member's statement: Legacy Act
Member's statement by Mrs Linda Dillon on .
- MLA
- Mrs Linda Dillon
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 30 April 2024
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Legacy Act
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4486720
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Tomorrow is 1 May. For some, that is the beginning of summer, but, for many families, tomorrow is a day that they have dreaded for some time because they lost loved ones in the conflict and, as a result of the British Government's Legacy Act, it is the day that numerous inquests will be halted and over 330 Troubles-related cases that are being investigated by the Office of the Police Ombudsman will be axed. Those families aptly named the Legacy Bill "the Bill of shame", because it will end all access to legal pursuit of their cases. We may not always agree in the Chamber, particularly on sensitive matters such as legacy, but, on this, I believe, we are all agreed. The British Government Legacy Act is wrong and serves nobody. It serves no victims and no families. We believe that the Stormont House Agreement, whilst not perfect, at least offered families some access to truth and justice. The families themselves believe that, as shown by the number of responses to the consultation on the Stormont House Agreement Bill. Many of the 17,500 responses were from families who lost loved ones. Many of those people poured their hearts out in the consultation responses only for those to be scrapped, along with the Stormont House Agreement Bill, by the British Government. I have spoken to many families from all sections of our community, and all they want is peace.
They want the truth about what happened to the people whom they loved, and they do not want the next generation of their families to have to carry the burden that is the fight for truth and justice. Be in no doubt, however, that while they do not want their families to have to carry that on, they will if they have to.
The irony in some of these cases is that the very Secretary of State who has blocked access to justice through the courts and the Coroners' Court is the same person who will decide whether those families get access to a public inquiry. That is not right. Public inquiries into some of the cases were recommended by the Coroners' Court itself. I am asking for support from across the Chamber in continuing to fight the British Government on this issue and insist that they repeal the Legacy Act.
389 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Awaiting analysis
This record has not been analysed yet. It is not counted in any total until it has been assessed.
Disagree with this assessment?
Classifications can be challenged. A person reviews every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.