Mr. Kevin Mulgrew:

On the numbers of former prisoners we represent, these are not our numbers. It is interesting that the British never kept detailed records of prisoners. I wish we had known that at the time. It would have made it a bit easier for the numbers to be counted. Independent research has put the number of republican prisoners anywhere in the region of 25,000 to 30,000. These are the figures from 1971 to 1998. This does not include figures prior to that date. This figure is collated from a number of reports. On the loyalist side there were 10,000 to 15,000. This is a high figure for loyalist prisoners. In the internment period, 100 loyalists were interned and 2,500 republicans were interned. That shows the difference.

We have interacted with a number of victims' groups through the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation and other processes. Some victims' groups do not want to meet us, and that is fine. We are open to meeting any of the groups. During some work that was done on victims' issues, some people used the term "victim" some used the term "survivors", whichever was suitable for them. Within the group of republican ex-prisoners, if one wanted to define the term "victim" there were quite a number of families, including my own family, whose family members were shot dead and others who were wounded during the conflict. I do not, however, consider myself a victim or survivor, if one wants to put that term on it. It does, however, interweave with many of the people we work with who would be under the definition of "victims". Some of them use the term but most do not. There is a clear issue. We were in Brussels last week along with a number of other victims' support groups who are also saying that their issues were not being dealt with.

It is clear that the situation at Stormont is having an impact on this. There is limited funding now for some of the issues. It is very tenuous at times. Stormont not being in operation is creating issues. The working group was set up under the auspices of the Good Friday Agreement. It has a remit to deal with the issues. The group has made some inroads but there has been no progress on some of the issues.