Mr. John O'Hagan:

With regard to the development of an uneven adverse approach to political ex-prisoners, I refer the committee to the recommendations from the British Government with regard to the victims' pension scheme. Within that scheme, the only community discriminated against en masseis the political ex-prisoner community regardless of how they received their injuries. Approximately 95% of the people we represent are victims of state violence. Within the recommendations set out by the British Government, these individuals who were deemed victims are now being stripped of their victimhood because of their role within the conflict yet state forces would go forward unhindered and unrestricted with regard to a plan for their pensions. This is the development, as we see it, of things getting progressively worse with regard to the issue of political ex-prisoners.