Ms Fiona Crowley:

I mentioned at the outset that this particular Bill south of the Border is of significant importance to our global movement. Thirteen years ago this month Amnesty International, our global movement, published a report called Northern Ireland: Time to Deal with the Past, after two years of in-depth research with victims, survivors and stakeholders north and south of the Border. It was primarily directed at the UK Government and the Northern Ireland parties but there were significant recommendations made to the Irish Government. It is a real tragedy that we are sitting here 13 years later with a Bill that looks like this. I will quote from the press release at the time: "A failure to deliver a comprehensive approach to dealing with the past has contributed to the societal division that is still rife in Northern Ireland." How true. There is a cruel irony in the fact that Northern Ireland is held up as a success story when many victims' families actually consider their treatment a failure. The opportunity to get it right is right now.