Ms Sandra Peake:

I thank the Chairman and members of the joint committee for arranging this session on legacy issues affecting victims and relatives in Northern Ireland.

The Troubles have left an indelible imprint on many people within the community and the legacy issues are influenced by the way in which people were affected. In my very brief introduction I want to look at the bereaved and those who were severely injured. One third of WAVE’s new referrals in the past year were bereaved persons. Since 1991 WAVE has been working with those bereaved and injured in or traumatised by the Troubles, regardless of community background, religious or political beliefs. To give members a sense of those who present to WAVE, 17 years post the Good Friday Agreement, they are aged between seven and 93 years of age. Some 44.9% are male and 55.1%, female. The average age is 51; however, we work with people between the ages of seven and 93 years of age. The religious breakdown is fairly equal.

Over 80% clients were resident in the six most deprived decile areas in Northern Ireland. The incidents that prompted clients to come to WAVE happened over a broad timescale. The data for last year indicate that 23.1% of the people presenting were affected in the 1970s, 23.4% in 1980s, 28.6% in 1990s, 14.8% in 2000 and 10.2% in 2010. I wanted to give these statistics for a variety of reasons. Many people assume that the legacy of the Troubles has not left the imprint that it has. Many individuals are presenting for support and assistance today some 40 years after the incident or 17 years after the Good Friday Agreement. Many of them present with a range of difficulties from psychological, physical, financial, social and some come with a sense of a perceived lack of justice. While 91% of those killed were men, the figures for men coming forward for help have risen year on year and are now just under 50%, with the average age being 51. Many are coming from areas of high social deprivation and are most likely to be economically inactive. Transgenerational issues are evident, with children from the age of seven years up presenting to WAVE requiring support. WAVE serves all sections of the community without distinction.

For the bereaved, a variety of issues may be evident, including feeling forgotten and a sense that their loved one's death was in vain may often be evident. Some families and individuals are presenting with complex grief compounded by the circumstances of their loved one's death - for example, a family member of the disappeared or someone whose loved one has been labelled an informer. Others are clear in their pursuit of truth and justice. Even within families there can be differences in what members want to see happen. There can be differences within families as to how they want to see the legacy of the past addressed.

Since the Good Friday Agreement victims and survivors have seen many different processes. In 1998 Sir Kenneth Bloomfield, Northern Ireland’s first victims' commissioner, identified the need for a process to deal with the past. While aspects of his report were addressed, the issues around truth and justice were not. The historic enquiry team, HET, did some good work for some families but for others it was insufficient and the structure of HET and protocols were flawed. In 2009, the Bradley Eames report offered new potential and many victims and survivors engaged fully in the process. Sadly, however, this did not progress. The Haass O’Sullivan talks in 2013 sought engagement and consultation and Richard Haass, in a meeting with WAVE, noted that a large number of responses had come from those bereaved and injured. Sadly, victims and survivors again saw this process flounder. Just before the HET closed, we were told that a number of cases would be fast tracked and were in the top 10%. Two months later, the Chief Constable announced through the media that the HET would close. The handling of people and the support, care and respect shown to them has been difficult. People are getting older and the sad reality is that relatives have died who did not get the answers or information they wanted.

We want to see progress on the historic investigation unit, HIU, and on the independent commission for information recovery, ICIR. The Stormont House Agreement cannot be another failed attempt to deal with the past. Recognition and acknowledgement are crucial for victims and survivors who have been bereaved. We would argue that the bereaved should receive greater financial support through the Victims and Survivors Service that was set up to provide support. Sadly, year on year that support has been reduced which has caused difficulties for many of the bereaved.

In 2012 WAVE commissioned a research study to explore the specific needs of the injured and their families. Many injured people reported that their needs were practical and physical and included, for example, appropriate wheelchairs and limbs, appropriate housing conducive to meeting their needs and financial support to improve the quality of their lives. Out of this research study WAVE’s injured support group lobbied and proposed a special pension for those severely injured as part of a campaign for recognition. We must bear in mind that the injured have been overlooked in successive reports. They were overlooked in the Eames Bradley report and even in the Haass report. The HIU and the new structures that have been proposed do not have any structures in place to deal with the injured. The injured are only included if there was a fatality.

The pension proposal is included within the Stormont House Agreement and our group will continue to work to ensure that this is achieved. Many of the injured, particularly from the 1970s and early 1980s, have long exhausted compensation payments as they outlived their life expectancy. While there was disability discrimination throughout the Troubles, there was also Troubles discrimination in the late 1960s, 1970s and 1980s and many struggled to find work. The pension under the Stormont House Agreement would be an important form of recognition and acknowledgement and would facilitate the injured in having some degree of financial security in the longer term.

Individuals differ and no single process will meet everybody’s needs. The most important aspect to all processes is that victims and survivors must be central. They must not be pushed to the margins or ignored but must be central to it. We have seen some progress and since we last met this committee in December 2013, three of the disappeared have been located through the work of the independent commission for the location of victims’ remains, ICLVR. The commission has worked well and that is uncontested. Everyone has the right to bury their dead and to afford a loved one a Christian burial. I would like to thank successive Irish and British Governments for their continued support for the commission. I would urge all members of this committee to continue to highlight the mechanisms that exist to give information to ICLVR so that the four remaining disappeared are returned to their families for Christian burial.