Troubles commission offers real opportunity for answers, says Sir Declan Morgan

Sir Declan Morgan, incoming chief commissioner-designate of the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR), said the legacy of the Troubles in Northern Ireland needed to be properly dealt with. The truth recovery body has launched a public survey to gather people's views on how it should carry out its work.

The ICRIR will be formally established once the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill gets royal assent later this year. The controversial legislation would give immunity from prosecution for Troubles-related offences to people who co-operated with the ICRIR. It would also prevent future civil cases and inquests.

The Bill is opposed by all major Stormont parties, the Irish Government and victims' campaign groups. A number of protests have been held in Northern Ireland and at Westminster.

The Government had wanted the legislation passed before Parliament went into recess last week, but was delayed after peers in the House of Lords introduced amendments. Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said he believed the legislation would now pass in early September.

Sir Declan, Northern Ireland's former Lord Chief Justice, will become the ICRIR's first chief commissioner. The body will provide information to families, victims and survivors of Troubles-related deaths and serious injury as well as promoting reconciliation. It is expected the commission will be ready to receive requests from families from the summer of next year.

Ahead of that, the commission has launched a public survey, which can be accessed at https://icrir.independent-inquiry.uk/have-your-say-in-our-survey/.

Sir Declan said: "The people of Northern Ireland and all those affected by the Troubles need the legacy of the past to be properly dealt with. "I believe we have a real opportunity to deliver the answers that people are looking for, but to do this, we need to build a process that is founded on integrity, expertise and fairness. "This is why we want to hear people's views as we develop our operating principles."

The commission's work will involve reviewing deaths and other serious Troubles-related incidents, producing and publishing reports of findings, deciding whether to grant people immunity from prosecution, referring cases to prosecutors and producing a record of Troubles deaths. The ICRIR will be led by a board of seven commissioners.

However, victims campaigner Raymond McCord, whose son was murdered by loyalists during the Troubles, said the bereaved should not be denied the opportunity for justice. He said: "It's not answers we want relating to the murders, it's the murderers being held answerable and accountable to our courts."