Mr. Kevin Mulgrew:

We put this document together because of all the questions coming in, asking what we can do. We need to throw something back in that regard and see what is doable. We are not finished. It goes into all the issues, what needs to be done and who we believe is responsible. That will be done in the next two weeks.

Legacy was not addressed in the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. It probably could not have been addressed because the DUP would not have bought into the issue of legacy but we can see now in terms of all the legacy issues, including the victims' issues and others, that none of them was dealt with. They were pushed down the road. That was probably needed to get that agreement at that time but we are paying for it now.

In the middle of all this is the issue of conflict related conviction. All the arrows come out from that. All these issues arise because of conflict related conviction. We have discussed that and there are various views on how we can get rid of conflict related conviction, that is, what they would call criminal record. We saw the recent controversy in Britain where they were trying to bring in a statute of limitations or amnesty for British personnel. I do not know whether that will go through but if a statute of limitations or a general amnesty is introduced, where would that leave victims' groups in having to pursue truth and justice for their people?

Coiste would be of the view that we need an amnesty. If people do not want to call it an amnesty, that is fine. We will live with an expunging of records, spent convictions or whatever but it needs to be done away with because that is the central problem that causes everything else. We have looked at the issue and spoken to academics about it. There were 55 amnesties from the Second World War. According to European law on that, there cannot be a stand-alone amnesty. I am using the word "amnesty". Any other variations can be used. There has to be other aspects involved. If we look at the Irish situation, we have had decommissioning and demobilisation on the part of the people we are representing, namely, former IRA prisoners. The reinsertion has not happened because of the legislation. We are always asked how long is a political prisoner an ex-political prisoner. The answer we give is as long as legislation exists which discriminates against them.

We need to do this somewhere down the road because I do not believe it will be solved in Ireland or through the British. There needs to be some European aspect to this in terms of looking at a special fund or how DDR should be implemented. The State forces have had DDR. They have had the "R" part of it, the reinsertion part. They did not have to demobilise or decommission. They have had the reinsertion part because of all the funds that have been allocated to them. Those are not just European funds. They are British state funds that are allocated every year. We do not begrudge that. We believe that is fine. What is good for the goose is good for the gander. If we are dealing with combatants equally, let us look at that. We need the respite, the counselling, the training and so on that is available. That is the only way I believe we will get it because if there is a narrative that does not agree with our narrative but which has a predominant strength in where the sub-strategy is going, we will never get anywhere with this. We will not accept it. They are trying to force us into this interpretation of the conflict. It was a sectarian conflict in the North. From our perspective, there was no colonialism, imperialism, occupation or any of that in it. That is a difficulty for us. To even apply for that type is a difficulty because it goes against our raison d'etre.