Frances Black (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I join other colleagues in welcoming Frank Allen and his niece to the Chamber. I know Frank very well. He is a wonderful writer and I am a huge fan of his work. It is great to have him here today.

I want to raise a topic that has been covered in this Chamber several times, namely, the British Government's Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill. I have remarked on it previously many times and many other Senators, including Senator Ó Donnghaile, have spoken passionately about it. It is a rare issue that unites every political party, North and South. Every political force on this island is outraged by the legislation that will effectively end inquests, police ombudsman investigations, civil cases and police investigations into crimes committed as part of the conflict. This is a blatant denial of access to justice for victims and campaigners. It is an attack on the truth and a crude attempt to impose impunity. At a time we have been celebrating the triumph of peace-making, consensus-building and diplomacy of the Good Friday Agreement, it truly is bizarre and upsetting to see the British Government press forward with what I think is a catastrophic unilateral action. It is an action that disregards the views of almost every victims' representative organisation, civil society organisations, church leaders, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Council of Europe, as well as Westminster's Joint Committee on Human Rights. With the negotiation of the Windsor Framework for the Northern Ireland protocol and the cessation of political chaos within the British Government, it has felt like a cautiously hopeful time for Irish-British diplomatic relations that have been so battered by the Brexit process. I am concerned that these relations will be further strained if the British Government does not step back from this cliff. The legacy Bill represents the abandonment of the 2014 Stormont House Agreement in which parties in the North, as well as the British and Irish Governments, agreed on a common approach to legacy issues and a means of enabling victims campaigners to pursue justice. That agreement was endorsed again by both governments in the Fresh Start Agreement of 2015 and the New Decade, New Approach Deal of 2020. The British Government's intent to deviate from these agreements signals a lack of respect for political institutions North and South, and a callous disregard of the families of victims that they are retraumatising. I want to highlight the fact that the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement has issued a strong statement against this legislation. It includes a commitment to ask the Government to take up interstate litigation in the European Court of Human Rights if negotiations fail to halt the Bill. This would be a way for the State to demonstrate its commitment to supporting the families of victims of the Troubles, as well as the established principles of European rights law. I ask everyone to stay engaged on this issue. We need to do all we can for these families.