There must be a peaceful resolution, international unity and effective diplomacy around the world.
http://www.northernireland.gov.uk/haass.pdf
I have read this report with great interest and feel that I do have something to contribute to resolving differences, and getting more agreements. The report sounds very comprehensive and well thought out as much as could be allowed. There are some more information that could be filled in. The report has been throwing a lot of questions which needs answering. What we really need is a mediator and a peacemaker which is possibly myself. I need to meet with all the political parties to have joint discussions working towards the goal for peace in Northern Ireland. I have to be assured that the political parties in Northern Ireland are not playing party politics. That they are willing to set their differences on side and willing to agree to make more agreements. We all understood that the people of Northern Ireland do have different experiences and conflicts etc. It is possible to achieve a united Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland can become one mind.
I am happy to help and why wait any longer?
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/haass-proposals-the-main-points-1.1641726
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-25573335
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-25568846
Northern Ireland clearly needs help. Political Parties cannot resolve issues alone, and having people in charge of the main points proposed by Haass is not really right.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-25637592
There is an update today by Peter Robinson (7th January 2014) saying that the framework created by Haass needs more work. Peter Robinson has confirmed everything in the article, that there are difficulties. There is a real need for a mediator and peacemaker. We will however, let politicans peruse over the document for the next week or so and hope they will write everything down. It is better not to endorse it yet.
While five biggest political parties are satisfied that the broad architecture is capable of having long term workable arrangements. They have to function in the best interests of the communities. It would be good if the five biggest political parties, Orange Order, community representatives, church leaders and other interested parties doing things the same day. If they all take time off, taking in the same day in their own homes, or in their own rooms where they can have complete privacy. To undertake a mental exercise is to write everything negative down, the hate, the anger, the bad feelings, everything negative under the sun. When they have written everything down and all negative bad thoughts are on paper, shred the paper. As soon as they have all done that, they all will be in a better frame of mind, and will think positive and good thoughts. This would be the beginning of a new beginning working towards peace and let the peace process begin properly.
Northern Ireland is the isolated back water if you look behind it. It was about nationalism dressed as religion. NI was all about Protestants caught between the rock of historical inevitability and the hard place of a world that wants to move on. To try and understand NI, the first thing you must do is not to generalise. Yes, religion mixed with British and Irish Nationalism has added to the toxicity of the politics of that place. However, to lump everybody into either camps does not reflect the diversity of that place. Even at the height of troubles, the more extreme parties could only muster a small percentage of the electorate and succumbed to implementing democracy in later years. It was only when they came into the democratic tent that their votes increased. We face the same issues as any part of UK. We have to be careful that NI is still part of the UK and will always be so. There is no longer a toxicity of religions which once split NI in the old days. Let bygones by bygones as we believe in the very same god. We all want the same things to have a good quality of life, to live life to the full and be happy.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/richard-haass-and-meghan-osullivan-we-will-do-all-we-can-but-the-choice-is-up-to-northern-irelands-political-parties-29869520.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-25674003
This is an update today (10th January 2014) by Richard Haass. I understand what he is saying, but it is a complex problem and made worse by Sinn Fein and SDLP accepting the proposals. It is almost a draw when half the parties have rejected and the other half have accepted. Unfortunately, Richard Haass does not really know what the deep problems are. The flags, parades etc is just a surface that should not be scratched. Like I said before, there are questions that needs to be answered. I have no objections to all five big parties accepting the proposals if they all did. But there must be a debate and it does not matter if it is an heated debate as long we get results along the way. All five big parties must get together first, before agreeing any thing that could be sealed and binding. They will all have regrets if they did not.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-25685416
This is another update today (10th January 2014) by Peter Robinson. I agree with what he said that five big parties must reach an agreement with unionists and not Richard Haass. Peter Robinson said "Let's roll up our sleeves, look at the outstanding issues and try and get an agreement that all parties, rather than just nationalist parties can sign up to". That is so impressive and all parties will get all the credit they deserve if they all managed to get through the peace process. Although there are outstanding issues, there are hidden problems and hidden issues that needs to be surfaced that no one may know about, but which I do know about.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-25695392
This is another update today (11th January 2014) Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said proposals were a compromise position. Leaders of five main parties at Stormont are due to meet next week to discuss the way ahead. This is a great start to working towards the peace process and I am so glad to hear it. I have friends in NI and fear for their safety. There have been changes in the past as NI and Eire has been getting migrants from Eastern Europe, India etc and even some from Eire who work and live peacefully in NI. NI is now multicultural. We have had mass emigration to UK from Eire so many years ago as the economic climate was not favorable at the time. What we got to understand is that it is not good for one party to agree and implement something. For instance: When there was an incident that the Alliance wanted to make rules about flying a flag above Belfast Town Hall which is wrong, and that is why there was so much hostilities and hate. It is about teamwork and agreeing on the same things. But it does not matter if five main parties cannot all agree as there are alternatives. They can use up all the alternatives until a compromise have to be reached. NI does not have a universal flag and it is difficult for some organisations to keep switching flags, so that needs to be addressed. We have got the Union Jack, St Patrick Saltire and other flags. If no agreement is reached on which flag is to be used permanently, a new creation of the flag have to done as a last resort. We have flags flying from government buildings which is another problem that needs to be addressed as well. There are still so much to talk about, but I look forward to hearing what the five main parties have to say next week. I look forward to hearing what discussions they have had to discuss the way forward.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-25706371
This is another update today (14th January 2014). Like the Alliance party, the people of NI will want another process to examine difficulties over parades and flags and have called for an independently chaired mechanism to be set up urgently. I did offer, and would do a very good job examining in detail the 340 elements in the Haass document. It is too early for implementation of any proposals. I do not believe Theresa Villiers could be the suitable chair, as she does not seem to be much involved as she should have been, and would not be impartial to any talks taking place. Neither can she, solve any problems and difficulties that is arising from the flags, parades and the past. It has been going on for so long and we have to at all cost avoid another civil war. We cannot afford to make mistakes that can cause more difficulties and problems. An independent chair has got to be impartial. We cannot have any more bickering from some of the five main parties trying to blame each other, and must stop the blame game of politics. As far as I am aware all parties are to blame and they have been so selfish in the past. We must try and work together as a team and try and be as unselfish as one can, making sacrifices for the good of the people of NI. As SDLP said we have to think about avoiding any more emigration, think about unemployment, the economy etc. We all cannot move forward if we do not take one step at a time. One step at a time can be painful or not painful, but we have to take one day at a time. Wounds may reopen but if it does, we all have to face them. We are off to a great start and I agree the next step would be to have an independent chair acting for true and real democracy with fairness, equality and with aspirations of hope and peace. Unfortunately, I cannot give a lot of details on this blog, as some needs written confidential details to be disclosed only to the five main parties. There must be no niggling details by the time the consultations and discussions have ended. There must be a happy ending that will benefit everyone in NI on the whole.
Please contact me on Twitter Linda Mary Breeze@bluebellcowgirl if all five main parties agree that I could be independent chair.
Time is indeed of the essence.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-25772866
This is the update today (17th January 2014). Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams have had extraordinary outbursts discrediting their party in the press and on television. It is deeply regrettable and dictating. Mark Devenport the political editor for NI said it was another row with a distinct edge. That Peter Robinson did not like what he sensed was Martin McGuinness was acting as if he was in control of the past-Haass process and in his statement he is more or less defying Sinn Fein to walk away if they want to. Martin McGuinness was saying that UVF, (Ulster Volunteer Force (1966), and PUP (Progressive Union Party (1977), was one and the same as Orangemen etc. UVF fought against Home Rule and was dedicated to upholding the NI Union with Britain at all costs. UVF quickly announced its intention to kill members of IRA, a commitment it upheld. The organisation also murdered anyone who were against the Union.
In 1990s the PUP gained popular attention as the political voice of UVF. Representing working class unionists and paramilitary prisoners and their families. PUP participated in multiparty talks that led to Good Friday agreement (April 1998) and the release of prisoners. In elections in June 1998 the PUP won two seats in the new NI Assembly, but it lost one of the seats in the 2003 elections.
It does not matter if they are one and the same, and may as well be now be part of UUP, who knows. The less parties there are, the better.
It is obvious that Sinn Fein hates the Unionists and the Union of UK but there is nothing they can do about it. It is not worth the anger or worth taking any more lives if people have already decided to be part of UK. They were indeed unhelpful and irrational, and that they were in political denial. They are forgetting they are living in NI and not Eire, and in the 21st century. They cannot reach an agreement on their own terms being Nationalists.
Although the DUP will always take its own decisions on political matters, neither parties can make decisions on the peace process. It is up to the Independent chair, who owns the peace process. Independent chair has control of how it functions, on what it will, or will not consider, and prescribe the timing. The deadline is St Patrick's Day, March 17th 2014.
DUP as the largest party in NI as well as the other parties apart from the Nationalists, will not be shepherded into any structure that restricts their ability to conclude agreement on deal imperatives. If Nationalists wants to walk away, it demonstrates lack of leadership on their part and it could seriously make Sinn Fein Party defunct.
Sinn Fein must not play "divide and conquer" to the detriment of their own party. For the sake of NI, all parties must work together to achieve peace after three years.
Poverty and high unemployment in NI is very high and higher than UK.
President Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron both agree that all parties in NI must work together and co-operate.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-25794810
New Flag for NI
I have created a new flag for Northern Ireland, and thought I may as well let everyone know to see if it could be approved or not. I started changing the Irish flag backwards only to find it belongs to the Ivory Coast. Then I looked up St Patrick's Saltire only to find there are a lot of red crosses with white background belonging to Alabama, Florida, Jersey, Malta, Chile, West Dunbartonshire.
The Irish flag as it turned out was green for Catholics, white for peace and orange for Protestants which dates back to the 19th Century. I was suprised that that there were only these representations which is not really applicable any more. After looking at similar colour flags which has green, orange and white, or red, green and white. These were a bit too popular and a bit overused by other countries. So I decided to turn vertical stripes into five. The colours are now blue, orange, green, white and red. I was using the Irish flag colours and added UK colours of blue, and red. How about that?
I researched to see if there was a flag of these vertical five colours. So far I could not see any.
Blue - harmony, stability, unity, trust, confidence, security, order, loyalty, tranquility, peace, calm, cleanliness.
Orange - energy, balance, enthusiasm, warmth, vibrant, expansive, flamboyant, demanding of attention, courage and sacrifice.
Green - nature, environment, healthy, good luck, renewal, youth, spring, generosity, vigor, eternity, hope.
White - peace, humility, reverence, birth, goodness.
Red - excitement, energy, passion, love, desire, speed, strength, power, hardiness, bravery and courage.
These are the representations every time we look at the flag, and gives us aspirations to live life to the full. New flag is like a mascot and may help to turn the country around.
It is just as well we have more colours and looking at colours, does promote well being and help boost our egos.
End of Part One.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-25429676
Updated 21st January 2014.
Talks have finally taken place today between the five main parties, and SDLP, Dr Mc Donnell said he felt there was "enough elbow room to move forward". I agree completely, as there are so much to talk about and fill in all the missing gaps for the peace process. Dr Mc Donnell said "We are all coming from different positions, we all have different political pressures, we all have different needs. We recognise people's difficulties, but there is a space to build a bridge". I have been thinking a lot over the last 21 days and thought there are different angles. It is not only about politics and politicians though, but people from all walks of life with the same aims at building a bridge. I also recognise politicians's difficulties, as they have been trying to resolve differences and getting agreements in NI for three years. The independent chair is supposed to act for the politicians and the people of NI, not just for the politicians. I do feel I can positively contribute 100% or more and make the peace plan successful. It would be a terrible mistake if the five main parties will not let me be mediator, peacemaker and independent chair. If there was someone else in the chair, there are likely to be lots of mistakes and there would be a risk of the peace plan and proposals being thrown out once again. We only have a few weeks left until St Patrick's Day. I can ease a lot of political pressures that the politicians are being burdened with. I am still waiting to get started on the paperwork and hope to complete within two weeks at the latest.
Updated 22nd January 2014.
Still no news about the five main parties having made any decisions today about approving the new NI universal flag that I created, and no news about who will be Independent Chair yet. Another day has gone by...............
As I have been mediator and peacemaker and do represent Northern Ireland as a whole. If I did become chair, there would be no need to have funding from the government. I would do it all for free although I will need help with travel and hotel costs, if needs arise. I happily communicate by Internet. I urge the five main parties once again, please let me help finalise the peace plan and proposals. I can help the five main parties compromise if needs be. Someone has got to be able to say "NO" not good enough and say why. I always say why I think it is right or wrong and explain all the facts. I do appreciate that the five main parties have tackled more difficult issues in the past, but it is easy to overlook what could be important to implement. I want peace just as much as anyone else in Northern Ireland and desperate for it.
Updated 29th January 2014
Ms Villiers said the primary source of funding for any new bodies set up by the Haass proposals should come from Northern Ireland's block grant. However, she added that a proposal for additional funding would be looked at. Ms Villiers said that the creation of institutions to deal with the past was not an easy one for the government. "The concern is that, however carefully new structures on the past are set up, and however clear the criteria for their work is, there's always the anxiety that their focus will start to be on the very limited number of tragedies in which the state was involved, rather than the majority that were the responsibility of terrorists," she said. The fact that the state is the organisation with the records means that there's always the risk in any focus on the past that it'll become unduly and unproportionately focused on state activities. But despite those risks, we're prepared to go with a compromise if the parties can agree that".
"A reversal in the progress could be made, but equally when one considers the major economic, social and cultural challenges Northern Ireland faces could mean going backwards. Reversal will happen if Northern Ireland do not take responsibilities very seriously. I have done a lot of research on the past, as well as flags and parades. And from that viewpoint I cannot see why we should have any new bodies set up by Haass proposals. I cannot see the need for them as I have answers about the past. I know exactly what has happened through and through. It is amazing that anyone would take a few years and so much money after setting up a new body just to have employment and bide their time to stay in it. New bodies are not really necessary and unimportant. It is so regretful that Haass would mention them at all. There should be no extra funding for them at anyhow.
I have discovered what N.I. Secretary of State Theresa Villiers said "The Parades Commission remains the legally constituted body responsible for determining these matters and the new chair and members appointed today will have important work to carry out in the months ahead". New posts commenced on the 1st January 2014. The chair is Anne Henderson, and members are Sarah Havlin, Colin Kennedy, Frances McCartney and Glyn Roberts. All these people working for the Parades Commission are massively overqualified. I am so shocked that Theresa Villiers have appointed these people, and that they are not dealing in matters relating to the concerns of the Northern Ireland people. They are not people persons. They are not going to be thinking of democracy or is qualified in democracy. I know Glyn Roberts was in Alliance but not good enough. What a terrible waste of money.
I also have doubts about the International Fund for Ireland. I see it part of the problem, not the solution for intergrated, shared and peaceful society. I cannot see how the Peace Walls programme, Peace Impact programme and the Completion and Sustainability programe is working. The main problem is that no one is happy to achieve peace in Northern Ireland if the International Fund for Ireland is going to help them. Besides terrorists and what have you, sees the International Fund for Ireland a threat. It is also a waste of money spending money in Northern Ireland. If we are to work for peace, sustainability, stability and security in Northern Ireland, there are better ways to do them.
Updated 31st January 2014
I am very aware there have been sectarian troubles for the last few weeks. I do know that Alliance and some councillors have appealed for calm and asking residents to call the police if they know anything. But it is not good enough, and the five main parties has got to be involved so I can give them advice on how to get cohesion within communities.
End of Part two.
Mr Chittick's speech is an attack on peace and unity not only in NI but in UK.
Gerry Adams has accused David Cameron and Theresa Villiers of "fudging" their response to former US diplomat Richard Haass' proposals on parades, flags and the past.
The Sinn Féin president told the Irish parliament the dispute over the union flag in Belfast and violence linked to parades had "placed a significant strain" on the political institutions.
Mr Adams accused unionists of "failing their constituents and ignoring the desire of the vast majority of citizens who want to see agreement".
Negotiations chaired by Dr Haass and Prof Meghan O'Sullivan broke up on 31 December without reaching consensus on their final blueprint, but Northern Ireland's five executive parties are continuing to hold talks about the issues.
'Confidence'
Irish deputy prime minister Eamon Gilmore said agreement on parades, flags and the past would "inspire a new sense of security and confidence across communities in Northern Ireland".
Mr Gilmore, who is minister for foreign affairs, said his government would provide full support as the Stormont parties complete their work on these issues.
He reiterated Dublin's backing for a revival of the Civic Forum, a new Bill of Rights and an Irish language Act.
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said the majority of people believed the Northern Ireland Assembly was achieving little, and said successive surveys suggested a "growing detachment and disillusionment. The refusal of the two governments to participate directly in the process, and their refusal to play any role in challenging the dysfunction of the executive, gave the Haass process little hope of reaching a comprehensive conclusion," he said.
Mr Martin said he welcomed that the Stormont parties were still holding talks, but argued that "the time has long since come where the governments should assert their legitimate roles in the process and seek a significantly increased involvement".
I do not know what Gerry Adams meant when he said "of fudging". I suppose he meant sweetening. The five main parties certainly needs sweetening. As they are holding talks, these talks must have substance. They certainly have to improve communication with the public with fair balanced decisions that are legal and lawful. However, I would not be suprised if these talks about flags, parades and the past are strained to say the least.
Flags
I am sure a large majority of the public would like to have an universal flag that has got the vertical five colours of the Irish, Welsh, English and the Scots. The colours are blue, orange, white, green and red. These colours do represent meanings for each country as well as the whole country being UK. (Please see part one, post for more details).
Some organisations and clubs in Northern Ireland sometimes use the Irish flag so it makes sense to merge all the colours.
Most nationalists, or Catholics, would see the Republic of Ireland tricolour as "their" flag.
Apart from the Universal flag, we should have another flagpole for the Union Jack to be flown on dates shown below. Apart from the dates, the Union Jack should also be flown for births and deaths of the Royal Family. Probably half mast for deaths etc.
A man waves a union flag during a protest outside Belfast City Hall and protesters have put flags on lamposts.
The flying of flags, usually from lamp-posts, is also used by elements of both communities to mark out their "territory". These actions have to be banned.
Both sides must tone down and act properly while in public places.
Parades must display the Universal flag, only as a show of peace and unity.
We certainly do need to inspire confidence and security.
Parades
The majority of parades that take place are connected to the unionist, Protestant, or community.
It would be a good idea to have a set time maybe first thing in the morning so shops can open late like 10am or 11am, so people can do their shopping on Saturdays and Sundays not effecting businesses in the town centre in any way. I do not know if there are late Saturday and Sunday openings until 8 pm, but that is something to consider.
Marching organisations believe that walking on the "Queen's highway" is a fundamental right.
There is a problem of obstructing the Queen's Highway. There must be no loitering or hanging around. There has got to be a starting point where there is minimum obstruction to traffic and a finishing point where crowds and parades can disperse very quickly. I have seen evidence that parades are disorganised and there were dancing in the streets.
We have to try and stay away from residential areas and maybe find alternative routes. I am aware that there have been great efforts to re-route some parades in the past. We could look at the feasibility of it.
Ban open air meetings as it is deemed an obstruction and prevent any hate crime speeches or whatever. It is an unwanted crowd gathering and peace shattering.
Anyone commit a hate crime or spread hate crime could result in having their club, organisation, or order closed.
One thing we have to consider is that planning laws will have a part in the new development in Belfast so it is important to include parades in the future plans.
Having too many parades are costing the country millions of pounds to have very heavy police presence to monitor parades. It is also costing so many businesses trying to make a living. The fewer the parades the better.
It is the responsibility of politicians to advise and give their constituents education about the facts of life concerning why we condemn violence, not tolerating bad behaviour etc etc. If the people of Northern Ireland was better educated, there would be a much better chance of a risk free, quality of life.
End of Part three
PART FOUR
Churches to register with children's safeguarding boards if they want to give education in institutions and care homes run by nuns and monks. To stop systemic abuse and failings, if that has not been done already. Also stop systemic political education to children.
Education to make people aware of the consequences and repercussions of the Northern Ireland civil war.
To reduce parades and less power to the Orange Order, and not build any more Orange Order halls.
To review parades.
To monitor hate crimes closely.
Authorities to prevent any more sectarian conflicts, whether it be religious, political or cultural.
To prevent children from joining any club, organisation or order that might incriminate them to fight a war.
To work for peace and unity in Northern Ireland.
To have total amnesty not just for nationalists, but for loyalists and British soldiers as well.
The Parades Commission to make people aware of determination of parades if they make changes.
More decommissioning of arms.
End of Part four
Time is of the essence and we must not be enemies of progress. There is nothing to fear at all between all the political parties for each other.
Villiers said: "We opposed the legislation proposed under the last government that would have created an effective amnesty."
Nigel Dodds was angry. He said the Downey decision "has undermined confidence not just in policing and justice" but in the wider peace process. He told the Secretary of State to "rescind this shameful backdoor scheme."
Villiers said around 200 cases have been processed "through this scheme; they were sent factual letters stating whether or not they were wanted for terrorist offences."
She added: "Clearly it is not an amnesty and was never intended as such."
She conceded that "a grave mistake was made". Dodds told her there is "outrage right across the country not just in Northern Ireland" that a letter from an official "can trump due process of law in this country".
"Will the Secretary of State not realise how serious this is not just for the process of law and order but for the very stability and continued existence of devolution in Northern Ireland, where the assembly has full responsibility for policing and justice?"
Villiers have always got things wrong about compromises, and asked a call for Haass implementation.
Review
Headed by a Judge
To be completed by May
Will review all documentation and those involved
Will not compel anyone to attend or be questioned under oath
Will produce public account and recommendations
Will determine if letters are sent in error
No 10 says no past ministers have to attend
"The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has been informed by the Attorney General that on the basis of the information currently available, there is no outstanding direction for prosecution in Northern Ireland, there are no warrants in existence nor are you wanted in Northern Ireland for arrest, questioning or charge by the police. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) are not aware of any interest in you from any other police force in the United Kingdom."
The letter shows John Downey should never have been brought to prosecution in the first place.
There have been so much corruption in RUC and PSNI, as they fought in the troubles as well.
Peace be with you all.
Headed by a Judge
To be completed by May
Will review all documentation and those involved
Will not compel anyone to attend or be questioned under oath
Will produce public account and recommendations
Will determine if letters are sent in error
No 10 says no past ministers have to attend
Letter to, on the runs
"The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has been informed by the Attorney General that on the basis of the information currently available, there is no outstanding direction for prosecution in Northern Ireland, there are no warrants in existence nor are you wanted in Northern Ireland for arrest, questioning or charge by the police. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) are not aware of any interest in you from any other police force in the United Kingdom."
Updated 7th March 2014
While I am waiting for a response from Northern Ireland Assembly about whether they have plans like creating a new constitution or whatever relating to letters.
Theresa Villiers have said that letters are not immunity. Chief Constable Mike Baggott said letters are not immunity, get out of jail cards, and amnesty.
It would usually mean letters sent to OTRs are worthless and useless.
If I am right, the prisoners were released from the Good Friday Agreement with a letter saying they are effectively on the run. But did the prisoners know they had to be on the run?
It certainly indicates that it is on the run letter giving prisoners immunity.
But why was it written by the Secretary of State, and not the Attorney General or the Justice Department?
Was the Attorney General or the Justice Department informed of the letters?
Is NI Assembly really worried about not bringing prisoners to justice in case they reoffend?
From what I know none of the prisoners have reoffended, and evidence against them are flimsy anyway.
If the IRA prisoners got away with it having received the letters, they are exonerated, and it is too late to try and get justice. That is because the Loyalists, Soldiers and RUCs did not get letters in spite of them having committed crimes. Even if they do not have letters any more.
Power sharing started as part of the Good Friday Agreement. Westminster was still running NI for a while so was entitled to send letters whenever they saw fit.
But why did Westminster send letters to prisoners if they were released or escaped anyway?
It was a very big administrative error.
I get it.
I can get newspaper accounts from witnesses, and record them on this post to speed things up without any documentation from Westminster.
PSNI
Ulster Unionist MLA Ross Hussey added: "The question remains as to why would 187 innocent people seek confirmation they are not being sought?"
Peter Hain, former Secretary of State
"There is no suggestion that the contents of the letters to those 'on the runs' were cleared with key politicians of all parties, or the details of the scheme shared, but the idea that they did not know anything about them is risible," Mr Hain said.
"Even when the letters were in the public domain, there was still misrepresentation, whether wilfully or not, about what the letters sent between 2001 and 2012 actually said and meant - and this process caused the victims even greater pain."
We have this great uncertainty now, about what could happen in the future.
We should have seized the initiative in setting the agenda, but in failing, has had to react to rather than shape events and decisions.
It may be right, at this time, to request further consideration of those issues arising from Haass but in failing to shape the talks into a process for reconciliation and resolution built on those standards of democracy from which the community has strayed too far, it follows a narrow and flawed agenda of diminishing appeal
End of Part One.
PART TWO
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-25429676
New NI flag has been created by myself and awaiting approval from the NI Assembly or from the five main parties. It is in Part One of my other posts. Talks from the five main parties about how to move forward will take place on Tuesday. Hopefully they will decide who will be Independent Chair who will draw up new proposals and maybe alter Haass proposals. There was a motion in the NI Assembly by MPs. MPs agreed that they cannot vote for Haass proposals. I would be very disappointed not to be an Independent Chair as I have a lot of proposals in mind. And I would abandon thinking about the peace process, if it came to that. It means, I will no longer be mediator and peacemaker. I will be making more statements regarding flags, parades and the past but for how much longer?
Updated 21st January 2014.
Talks have finally taken place today between the five main parties, and SDLP, Dr Mc Donnell said he felt there was "enough elbow room to move forward". I agree completely, as there are so much to talk about and fill in all the missing gaps for the peace process. Dr Mc Donnell said "We are all coming from different positions, we all have different political pressures, we all have different needs. We recognise people's difficulties, but there is a space to build a bridge". I have been thinking a lot over the last 21 days and thought there are different angles. It is not only about politics and politicians though, but people from all walks of life with the same aims at building a bridge. I also recognise politicians's difficulties, as they have been trying to resolve differences and getting agreements in NI for three years. The independent chair is supposed to act for the politicians and the people of NI, not just for the politicians. I do feel I can positively contribute 100% or more and make the peace plan successful. It would be a terrible mistake if the five main parties will not let me be mediator, peacemaker and independent chair. If there was someone else in the chair, there are likely to be lots of mistakes and there would be a risk of the peace plan and proposals being thrown out once again. We only have a few weeks left until St Patrick's Day. I can ease a lot of political pressures that the politicians are being burdened with. I am still waiting to get started on the paperwork and hope to complete within two weeks at the latest.
Updated 22nd January 2014.
Still no news about the five main parties having made any decisions today about approving the new NI universal flag that I created, and no news about who will be Independent Chair yet. Another day has gone by...............
Updated 28th January 2014
Martin McGuinness said the government had a "huge responsibility" to contribute financially. Stormont's five main parties are currently locked in negotiations on a draft deal to resolve contentious issues of parades, flags and the past. The party leaders are due to meet on Tuesday in a bid to make progress. Former US diplomat Dr Richard Haass, who chaired a six month talks process in a bid to find agreement, has proposed a blueprint settlement that has yet to achieve consensus. Martin McGuinness also told the assembly the administrations in Washington and Dublin were also of the view that London should make a contribution in the even of an agreement.
New bodies
Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers has said the government could not make any guarantees that it would release additional support, but said any bid would be considered "very seriously". If the broad architecture of the Haass plan was accepted, it would necessitate the establishment of a range of new public bodies. Martin McGuinness said: "I think there is a huge responsibility on the British government in particular to recognise that in the even of agreement being reached that they should make a financial contribution towards the establishment of these important bodies to deal with what are very contentious issues within the process". "I would contend that whatever price that would be paid by the British government would be minimal in the context of resolving issues that cause great aggravation in our community and have, by their existence, created all sorts of difficulties within these institutions". Martin McGuinness has already warned his political rivals in Stormont that if progress is not made in the inter-party talks in the next three weeks or so, then a deal might not be reached.
Embarrassing
He said local politicians needed to change public perceptions that they had failed. "I think there is huge responsibility on all of us to find a way forward on these three contentious issues", he said. "I think it is incumbent on all of us to be positive and constructive and to recognise that the lot of politicians among the general public isn't great, and I find that embarrassing. I think what we need to do is show the public right across society that we have the ability to tackle these difficult issues. We have tackled even more difficult issues than this in the past."
The talks on Tuesday focused on parading issues. Discussions will resume at a later date when the parties will debate an updated paper on parading. I was very suprised that the five main parties did not start on the flags to begin with. Unless they have already debated that, and got an updated paper on flags as well. I hope we all can see the updated papers, so I can see if they need rectifying, and making any additions if necessary. It is so very important that we need a strategy for flags, parades and the past to unify the communities. Unfortunately, there has been no news about who is to fill in the chair. I may not be able to help further, and cannot intervene for the people of Northern Ireland at the moment. Once the chair is official, then I know how to proceed or what to do next. But it seems to be unlikely and out of my grasp for writing a peace plan and proposals. My vision for peace seems to be farther away.
Northern Ireland's political leaders had invited Mr Haass after clashes-both in the Northern Ireland Assembly and on the streets over three thorny issues. How should violent crimes committed during the Troubles of the 1960s to the 1990s be investigated? Should the union flag fly from public buildings, and when? And what rules should govern the parades that celebrate nationalist and unionist history—and, often, serve to intimidate the other side? In recent months these cultural quarrels have jammed Northern Ireland’s democracy.
In his final position paper, backed by the British and Irish governments and nationalist politicians, Mr Haass and his team proposed a code of conduct for parades and an information commission to resolve historical grievances. But the two unionist parties—the moderate Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and the more hardline Democratic Unionist Party (DUP)—did not give it their support. The talks’ failure could mean further street disturbances. And the episode will do nothing to improve the dismal standing of Northern Irish politicians. A poll in September showed them to be far less popular even than Westminster MPs.
That nationalists—even hardliners from Sinn Fein—were willing to compromise but unionists were not reveals much about the drift of Northern Irish politics. Outwardly the DUP is riding high. It comfortably holds more seats in the House of Commons and in the Northern Ireland Assembly than other party in the province. Yet, particularly in Belfast’s grimmer housing estates, working-class unionists are unhappy and resentful. Their numbers are declining, they suffer from high unemployment and they are held back by poor educational attainment. Many are angry at the concessions required by power-sharing (the system by which Northern Ireland has governed itself, on and off, since 1998). They consider their political leaders ineffective and out of touch. Nationalists, on the other hand, are happier with the peace process and with their elected representatives—who, as a result, find it easier to make compromises.
And unionism is divided. Unlike nationalists, who are generally Catholic, unionists are split between dozens of religious denominations. This spills over into politics. Republicans mostly work out their differences behind closed doors and present a united front in public. Unionists are prone to public altercations. That the UUP, once larger than the DUP, is now struggling makes the battle for disaffected unionists’ votes especially vicious. In June the DUP could humiliate its rival by seizing its one seat in the European Parliament.
There is hope yet for the long-suffering Mr Haass and his proposals. That the talks got as far as they did was a pleasant surprise. The position papers identify areas of agreement and disagreement on disputed (and previously abstract) issues, which should now inform and stimulate public debate. Negotiators made good progress on the question of historical crimes. And even the most intransigent unionist politicians accept that the status quo—recurrent violent street clashes reminiscent of the province’s dark past—is not an option. Expect them back at the table soon.
Updated 29th January 2014
Ms Villiers said the primary source of funding for any new bodies set up by the Haass proposals should come from Northern Ireland's block grant. However, she added that a proposal for additional funding would be looked at. Ms Villiers said that the creation of institutions to deal with the past was not an easy one for the government. "The concern is that, however carefully new structures on the past are set up, and however clear the criteria for their work is, there's always the anxiety that their focus will start to be on the very limited number of tragedies in which the state was involved, rather than the majority that were the responsibility of terrorists," she said. The fact that the state is the organisation with the records means that there's always the risk in any focus on the past that it'll become unduly and unproportionately focused on state activities. But despite those risks, we're prepared to go with a compromise if the parties can agree that".
"A reversal in the progress could be made, but equally when one considers the major economic, social and cultural challenges Northern Ireland faces could mean going backwards. Reversal will happen if Northern Ireland do not take responsibilities very seriously. I have done a lot of research on the past, as well as flags and parades. And from that viewpoint I cannot see why we should have any new bodies set up by Haass proposals. I cannot see the need for them as I have answers about the past. I know exactly what has happened through and through. It is amazing that anyone would take a few years and so much money after setting up a new body just to have employment and bide their time to stay in it. New bodies are not really necessary and unimportant. It is so regretful that Haass would mention them at all. There should be no extra funding for them at anyhow.
I have discovered what N.I. Secretary of State Theresa Villiers said "The Parades Commission remains the legally constituted body responsible for determining these matters and the new chair and members appointed today will have important work to carry out in the months ahead". New posts commenced on the 1st January 2014. The chair is Anne Henderson, and members are Sarah Havlin, Colin Kennedy, Frances McCartney and Glyn Roberts. All these people working for the Parades Commission are massively overqualified. I am so shocked that Theresa Villiers have appointed these people, and that they are not dealing in matters relating to the concerns of the Northern Ireland people. They are not people persons. They are not going to be thinking of democracy or is qualified in democracy. I know Glyn Roberts was in Alliance but not good enough. What a terrible waste of money.
I also have doubts about the International Fund for Ireland. I see it part of the problem, not the solution for intergrated, shared and peaceful society. I cannot see how the Peace Walls programme, Peace Impact programme and the Completion and Sustainability programe is working. The main problem is that no one is happy to achieve peace in Northern Ireland if the International Fund for Ireland is going to help them. Besides terrorists and what have you, sees the International Fund for Ireland a threat. It is also a waste of money spending money in Northern Ireland. If we are to work for peace, sustainability, stability and security in Northern Ireland, there are better ways to do them.
Updated 30th January 2014
Secretary of State Theresa Villiers was updating the Commons on the security situation in Northern Ireland and said "UDA and UVF remain committed to the peace process and reform of their organisations", MPs have been told. She said the latter half of 2013 saw persistent planning and targeting by terrorists culminating in a number of attacks before Christmas. There were 30 "national security" attacks in NI in 2013. More than half of these took place between October and December. However, the threat level has remained the same as at the time of the last update in July 2013. The threat continues to be tackled and suppressed and there have been some significant successes by the security forces which should bring both immediate and longer term benefits,"
Ms Villiers said. "Addressing loyalist paramilitaries, individuals associated with organisations continued to be involved in a range of criminal activity, including paramilitary assaults, organised crime such as drug dealing, and intimidation. Continued tensions within and between the two main loyalist paramilitary groups (UVF and UDA) also remain a cause for concern. During 2013 we have witnessed loyalist-related public disorder including protests and security incidents that have taken place outside the offices of democratically elected representatives. There have also been attempts by paramilitaries to gain greater influence and control within loyalist communities. However we continue to assess that the collective leaderships of the UDA and UVF remain committed to the peace process and reform of their organisations. Talking about dissident republicans, she said the group known as the 'new IRA' had continued to pose a significant threat and repeatedly "demonstrated its lethal intent". She said the Continuity IRA had continued to splinter into competing factions, several of which posed a localised threat to security forces. Many are more focused primarily on criminality than terrorism. Security forces has disrupted a number of planned attacks. High levels of cross-border police co-operation continued to be a crucial part of efforts to combat terrorism. She said ways were being considered to further strengthen the co-operation. While we must remain vigilant about the threat from terrorism in Northern Ireland. It is right that we should focus on criminality than terrorism".
A loyalist feud refers to any of the sporadic feuds which have erupted almost routinely between Northern Ireland's various loyalist paramilitary groups since they were founded shortly before and after the religious/political conflict known as The Troubles broke out in the late 1960s. The feuds have frequently involved problems between and amongst the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) as well as, laterally, the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF). Although the UDA and UVF have frequently co-operated and generally co-existed, the two groups have clashed. Two particular feuds stood out for their bloody nature. In July 2005 the feud came to a conclusion as the UVF made a final move against its rival organisation. The resulting activity led to the deaths of at least four people, all associated with the LVF. As a result of these attacks on 30 October 2005 the LVF announced that its units had been ordered to cease their activity and that it was disbanding. In February 2006, the Independent Monitoring Commission reported that this feud had come to an end. The UDA, the largest of the loyalist paramilitary groups, has seen a number of internal struggles within its history. The killings, however, was not part of feuds but instead carried out as a form of internal discipline. UDA and UVF got paid for agreeing to a ceasefire about twenty years ago. They are untouchables now.
We cannot rely on security forces alone and it is more dangerous for them to tackle alone. The security forces can only fight crime. It could take decades for bad organisations to die out. These bad organisations should not have existed today as we have established Political Parties and a new Northern Ireland Assembly to replace the old Parliament. These bad organisations are stuck in a time warp as there is no need of any to exist. Northern Ireland is part of United Kingdom, and got its own army. There are ways to help the bad organisations to disband peacefully if we are willing to help them. I have got answers to help these bad organisations. There is one particular Loyalist organisation that should be expelled or punished for holding a belief that they are against any foreigners in Northern Ireland. It is a racist and discriminatory organisation. This has got to be dealt with immediately.
Updated 31st January 2014
I am very aware there have been sectarian troubles for the last few weeks. I do know that Alliance and some councillors have appealed for calm and asking residents to call the police if they know anything. But it is not good enough, and the five main parties has got to be involved so I can give them advice on how to get cohesion within communities.
End of Part two.
PART THREE
A senior Orangeman has warned Protestants against learning the Irish language.
Belfast County Grand Master George Chittick made the call at a loyalist protest in north Belfast.
Mr Chittick told a crowd of about 500 people on the Woodvale Road: "A word of warning to Protestants who go to learn Irish ... it's part of the republican agenda.
"What do we think of the republican agenda? No."
Mr Chittick was addressing the weekly loyalist demonstration against the re-routing of an Orange Order parade in north Belfast. There has been a protest camp on nearby Twaddell Avenue for more than 200 days.
He later told the BBC his remarks were aimed at Protestants seeking funding for Irish language projects, and said he believed they should instead apply for financial grants for employment projects.
He said the Irish language had not been "political" in the past, but this had been changed in recent times by republicans.
Mr Chittick claimed republicans wanted to establish the Irish language in Northern Ireland on the same legal footing as English so that it would become compulsory in order to get a job.
He denied his remarks would be deemed offensive by Irish language speakers.
It comes weeks after a new Irish language centre opened in east Belfast to cope with an increasing number of learners.
I do not like Mr Chittick's tone, and I think it is disgusting that he should talk racist and discrimination about individuals learning Irish language. I thought it inappropriate to talk about a republican's agenda, and that his talk was aimed at Protestants.
It is up to the individuals, Irish or not to learn any new language. We have language classes all the time with individuals learning French, Spanish, Italian etc in UK.
Irish language should not be singled out as an attack against the Irish living in Northern Ireland. The Irish is no different to anyone else, and should not be treated or looked on like an alien.
I am livid that Mr Chittick's talk was aimed at warning the Protestants. He had no right to talk like that in any way given that we and other people in all parts of the world do not call themselves Protestants, Catholics, Methodists, Pentecostals, and what have you.
Northern Ireland talk about religious denominations as if it was casual, and that is, damaging to the communities. It is damaging to UK as well. We have inter-parties, inter-faiths and international communities living in Northern Ireland and UK.
Mr Chittick's talk about republican agenda is so out of order. UK and other parts of the world, individuals do not publicly call themselves Republicans, Labourites, Tories, Liberals etc.
We usually keep our political views to ourselves and not name names. I would not want to know if my friends are Tories, or Labourites etc. I respect their political views and their wishes to be whatever they want to be.
We do not even want to know if anyone is a Protestant or Catholic either. Again, I respect their religious views, and their wishes to have their own denomination.
Mr Chittick's speech is outrageous, and is fuelling the fires of terror and chaos. It is about time Northern Ireland dropped the words Loyalists and Nationalists, as hearing these words are so very divisive as well, as hearing about religious denominations etc.
One word of warning, Northern Ireland should speak, act and behave the same as individuals of UK. We are all part of the United Kingdom now.
Mr Chittick's speech is an attack on peace and unity not only in NI but in UK.
Updated 6th February 2014
Gerry Adams has accused David Cameron and Theresa Villiers of "fudging" their response to former US diplomat Richard Haass' proposals on parades, flags and the past.
The Sinn Féin president told the Irish parliament the dispute over the union flag in Belfast and violence linked to parades had "placed a significant strain" on the political institutions.
Mr Adams accused unionists of "failing their constituents and ignoring the desire of the vast majority of citizens who want to see agreement".
Negotiations chaired by Dr Haass and Prof Meghan O'Sullivan broke up on 31 December without reaching consensus on their final blueprint, but Northern Ireland's five executive parties are continuing to hold talks about the issues.
'Confidence'
Irish deputy prime minister Eamon Gilmore said agreement on parades, flags and the past would "inspire a new sense of security and confidence across communities in Northern Ireland".
Mr Gilmore, who is minister for foreign affairs, said his government would provide full support as the Stormont parties complete their work on these issues.
He reiterated Dublin's backing for a revival of the Civic Forum, a new Bill of Rights and an Irish language Act.
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said the majority of people believed the Northern Ireland Assembly was achieving little, and said successive surveys suggested a "growing detachment and disillusionment. The refusal of the two governments to participate directly in the process, and their refusal to play any role in challenging the dysfunction of the executive, gave the Haass process little hope of reaching a comprehensive conclusion," he said.
Mr Martin said he welcomed that the Stormont parties were still holding talks, but argued that "the time has long since come where the governments should assert their legitimate roles in the process and seek a significantly increased involvement".
I do not know what Gerry Adams meant when he said "of fudging". I suppose he meant sweetening. The five main parties certainly needs sweetening. As they are holding talks, these talks must have substance. They certainly have to improve communication with the public with fair balanced decisions that are legal and lawful. However, I would not be suprised if these talks about flags, parades and the past are strained to say the least.
Flags
As a representative for Northern Ireland, I have a very strong voice and my proposals are applied with good common sense, good judgement and with sensitivity. We do need peaceful assembly and protection against intimidation. We do respect the traditions and culture of everybody. My proposals must be approved by the five main parties and will certainly help them make decisions.
I am sure a large majority of the public would like to have an universal flag that has got the vertical five colours of the Irish, Welsh, English and the Scots. The colours are blue, orange, white, green and red. These colours do represent meanings for each country as well as the whole country being UK. (Please see part one, post for more details).
Some organisations and clubs in Northern Ireland sometimes use the Irish flag so it makes sense to merge all the colours.
Most nationalists, or Catholics, would see the Republic of Ireland tricolour as "their" flag.
Apart from the Universal flag, we should have another flagpole for the Union Jack to be flown on dates shown below. Apart from the dates, the Union Jack should also be flown for births and deaths of the Royal Family. Probably half mast for deaths etc.
The Universal flag must be flown at all times at full mast 24/7 all around the year on government buildings. The Union Jack on dates specified, also at full mast beside government buildings. The European flag to be flown only inside council chambers at full mast 24/7 all around the year. St Patrick Day flag is only flown on St Patrick Day and flown at full mast using the Union Jack flagpole.
Flags, and other symbols, are also important expressions of cultural identity in Northern Ireland.
Unionists and Protestants generally give their allegiance to the union flag.
They say that as Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, the union flag is NI's national flag.
Flying the union jack and other flags in public places are to be banned especially in parades.A man waves a union flag during a protest outside Belfast City Hall and protesters have put flags on lamposts.
The flying of flags, usually from lamp-posts, is also used by elements of both communities to mark out their "territory". These actions have to be banned.
Banners displaying, to encourage terrorism are also to be banned. I can understand why the nationalists wanted to display them, as it is a defiant gesture against the loyalists.
There must not be any union jacks like umbrellas, mini flags etc in parades.
There must not be any union jacks like umbrellas, mini flags etc in parades.
Both sides must tone down and act properly while in public places.
Parades must display the Universal flag, only as a show of peace and unity.
We certainly do need to inspire confidence and security.
Parades
There are about fifteen organisations running so many parades. I am so astonished at the huge number of parades taking place.
We do not have many parades in the UK. It is not right that we have so many parades in Northern Ireland as it is so very disruptive and they cause breaches of peace. The economy is so very effected by all these parades taking place.
We cannot have loyalists influencing the public too much as they are a walking advertisement and being too zealous in their actions.
We do not have many parades in the UK. It is not right that we have so many parades in Northern Ireland as it is so very disruptive and they cause breaches of peace. The economy is so very effected by all these parades taking place.
We cannot have loyalists influencing the public too much as they are a walking advertisement and being too zealous in their actions.
What I suggest is that some parades can be merged into one parade like the Remembrance Sunday parade with war time memories parades like the Battle of the Somme or Ypres, British Legion, those who suffered or died in the centuries old wars, the Troubles, Hunger strike, Bloody Sunday etc.
Lord Mayor's parade with Gay Pride, non-sectarian parades, bands and youth organisations with any young people's parades in one parade etc.
It would help to minimise the huge impact on the neighbourhood and the economy if we have fewer parades. I think we should have only one civil rights march organised by the Nationalists as it is provocative to have so many.
Minimising these parades is not an attack on the Protestant, Unionist or Nationalist culture.
Organisations can hold as many parades in one parade on St Patrick's Day for instance to celebrate St Patrick's Day. Protestants must do likewise and they must be fair and equal.
Lord Mayor's parade with Gay Pride, non-sectarian parades, bands and youth organisations with any young people's parades in one parade etc.
It would help to minimise the huge impact on the neighbourhood and the economy if we have fewer parades. I think we should have only one civil rights march organised by the Nationalists as it is provocative to have so many.
Minimising these parades is not an attack on the Protestant, Unionist or Nationalist culture.
Organisations can hold as many parades in one parade on St Patrick's Day for instance to celebrate St Patrick's Day. Protestants must do likewise and they must be fair and equal.
The majority of parades that take place are connected to the unionist, Protestant, or community.
Most are organised by the Orange Order or other religious/cultural organisations, and the majority are not contentious.
The controversial parades are generally those that pass by, or through, nationalist areas.
Many nationalists feel that parading is an expression of historic unionist domination over nationalists in Northern Ireland.
Sinn Féin, the largest nationalist party, says that it does not seek to stop loyalists parading through nationalist areas, but that it should only happen after dialogue between marchers and residents.
A small number of nationalist parades have also proved contentious in the past.
In 1998, the UK government set up the Parades Commission to rule on contentious parades.
It has the power either to impose restrictions and conditions on parades.
The Orange Order, except in a few isolated cases, has not engaged with the Parades Commission.
Unionist politicians have called for the body to scrapped.
As a representative of the people of NI, I felt that I needed to stop all these disputes and try and put an end to them, making my proposals heard.
Marching organisations believe that walking on the "Queen's highway" is a fundamental right.
There is a problem of obstructing the Queen's Highway. There must be no loitering or hanging around. There has got to be a starting point where there is minimum obstruction to traffic and a finishing point where crowds and parades can disperse very quickly. I have seen evidence that parades are disorganised and there were dancing in the streets.
We have to try and stay away from residential areas and maybe find alternative routes. I am aware that there have been great efforts to re-route some parades in the past. We could look at the feasibility of it.
Ban open air meetings as it is deemed an obstruction and prevent any hate crime speeches or whatever. It is an unwanted crowd gathering and peace shattering.
Anyone commit a hate crime or spread hate crime could result in having their club, organisation, or order closed.
One thing we have to consider is that planning laws will have a part in the new development in Belfast so it is important to include parades in the future plans.
Having too many parades are costing the country millions of pounds to have very heavy police presence to monitor parades. It is also costing so many businesses trying to make a living. The fewer the parades the better.
It is the responsibility of politicians to advise and give their constituents education about the facts of life concerning why we condemn violence, not tolerating bad behaviour etc etc. If the people of Northern Ireland was better educated, there would be a much better chance of a risk free, quality of life.
End of Part three
PART FOUR
Dealing with the past
It is believed that dealing with the legacy and aftermath of Northern Ireland's Troubles will be the most difficult issue to resolve.
More than 3,500 people died during the Troubles, and in almost 3,300 cases there were no prosecutions.
Eleven people died in the Enniskillen Remembrance Day bomb in 1987.
A Historical Enquiries Team (HET) was set up to investigate unsolved Troubles murders, but has itself proved controversial.
All political parties agree that the rights and feelings of victims should be at the centre of any process.
What the process should be, and exactly how a victim is defined, however, have proved almost impossible to agree.
Victims, as defined by the Victims and Survivors (Northern Ireland) Order 2006, are those directly affected by bereavement, physical injury, or trauma, as a result of the Troubles. The Victims Commission estimates that as many as 500,000 people could qualify under that definition.
Unionists, however, believe that those who committed, or were involved in, acts of violence should be excluded.
Nationalists also have concerns over alleged collusion between the UK government and loyalist paramilitaries.
A proposal from the NI Attorney General, John Larkin, in November 2013, that there should be an end to Troubles-related prosecutions, was condemned by victims' groups and by most politicians.
Children in Northern Ireland had experiences of nationalisation and militarisation, participation in the troubles through education, families and activities outside of school. The political socialisation of children is tied strongly to historical events and historical narratives which inform children by their parents or outsiders.
Children have adopted during the troubles, nationalist ideas, and how they grew up with paramilitary practices.
There are approximately 500,000 people under the age of 17 in Northern Ireland a country which is experiencing the longest period of concentrated civil disturbance in the Western world in modern times. I contend that children’s politicisation is central to the implicit and explicit maintenance of a sectarian divide, and its violently upheld physical and political boundaries.
Firstly, the sectarian division of communities also divides, and politicises children’s social institutions including schools, youth organisations and families.
Northern Ireland has a prominent nationalistic identification with, and attachment to the past, in forms that are particularly conducive to children’s assimilation and participation. Northern Irish children knew ‘their’ history even if they claim not to know about politics. The conflict is usually referred to within Northern Ireland as ‘the troubles’.
The ‘troubles’ is a term originally coined by residents in Belfast. As a present day description it includes over thirty years of propaganda, bullying, intimidation, gang-fighting, rioting, street battles and guerrilla warfare between Protestant, Catholic civilians, and Paramilitary groups,
Northern Irish security forces and the British army. The result has been 3600 deaths, over 40,000 injuries and the forced movement of large sectors of the population.
As a time period it usually refers to the escalation of paramilitary violence experienced since 1969, though it may also describe the violent clashes in the 1920s 1930s and 1950s.
Paramilitary terrorist activity, it should be noted, extends to the British mainland and to Europe.
In addition, both communities regularly remember and celebrate historic battles in pseudo-military parades unique to the area. Young people (under 29 years) in Northern Ireland account for over half the deaths in the troubles to date. Some of the experiences of children close to paramilitary activity and violence in Belfast, Derry, and Londonderry.
Residential areas with a Catholic majority have often been subject to the greatest incidents of violence. The nature of the conflict is that not all of the population experiences violence directly, the everyday lives of most citizens contributes to the maintenance of hostilities, the culture of fear, religious discrimination and choice of religious denomination.
All who live in Northern Ireland have friends or relatives who have been killed. The ‘internalising’ of the enemy into civilian life through the covertness of terrorism, contributes to community-wide blame and desire for retaliation and necessarily makes children’s homes and families part of the battleground.
The conflict contains a tangle of six problems or themes: constitutional, social and economic inequality, cultural identity, security, religious difference and day to day relationships. However, the themes are, in many hearts and minds, rooted in acts of discrimination which began over three hundred years ago.
Particular dates of carnage, battles and glory, rebellion and protest, mark turning points in each side’s history. History of the old civil wars have become part of the cultural consciousness of people in Northern Ireland today.
The arrival of English subjects onto ‘Irish’ soil particularly from the 15th century onwards marked the beginning of a hierarchy of British/English subjects over the Irish in terms of bestowed identity and socio-economic opportunity.
The two communities’ different socio-economic and political status was crystalised by the Plantation of Ulster in 1609 by King James 1st, and the further confiscation of Catholic land by Oliver Cromwell. There were stories of barbarism and heroism.
The Easter Rising of 1916 is an episode made familiar to many schoolchildren. Its equivalent in terms of propaganda value is the 1690 Battle of the Boyne, in which the Irish Protestants sided with Protestant William of Orange, to defeat Catholic King James II and leave Ireland and Northern Ireland under Protestant rule.
This battle is celebrated annually in thousands of parades and other symbolic gestures of defiance in which children participate.
This battle is celebrated annually in thousands of parades and other symbolic gestures of defiance in which children participate.
Catholic animosity towards Protestants can be traced back to the socio-economic consequences of their dispossession during the Plantation. Land inheritance was restricted to Protestants or forcibly fragmented amongst Catholic sons.
Catholics were discriminated against and also subdued in Ireland through penal laws which prevented their right to a Catholic education or education abroad.
Such practices were concretised in 1800 in the Act of Union, which united constitutionally Britain and Ireland. Catholic hardship was then further exacerbated by food shortages and poverty. This led to mass emigration.
From 1858 Irish Home Rule claims by republicans led to battles in 1886, 1893 and 1912. In 1905, Sinn Fein, the political party of the present day IRA was founded and from 1912 a unionist paramilitary force.
The UVF (Ulster Volunteer force), resistant to Home Rule, was also formed in Ulster. In 1916 there was the Easter Rising.
In 1918 seventy-three Sinn Fein MPs were elected to the Dail in Dublin and Eoin McNiall became an influential Minister for Education.
In 1919 the IRA began the Irish War of Independence or the Anglo-Irish War, which lasted until July 1921.
The British brought in former soldiers in need of employment, known as the ‘black and tans’, to patrol the streets, selected on the grounds of their propensity for violence.
In 1920 The Government of Ireland Act partitioned Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State. The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty established a Northern Ireland Parliament in Stormont and an autonomous Parliament in Dublin. The Irish Free State was later to declare itself the Republic of Ireland in 1948.
Children played a military part in republican and unionist confrontations throughout this period.
The Nationalist youth organisation, the Fianna boys, was formed in 1922 by Constance Markevicz, a Sinn Fein MP, and the first woman elected to the British Parliament.
Similar to the boy scouts, its members were instructed in Irish history and language, and physical and military training.
During the 1930s however membership of sectarian junior associations increased dramatically, though often by adult members. Early Loyalist youth groups, such as the Protestant Tartan Gangs, later used as a recruitment base by the Ulster Defence Association and Ulster Volunteer Force, were given junior status in order to preserve their legality. In law at least, peaceful status was associated with the description ‘junior’.
There was then a time of peace, if not contentment, until the Catholic civil rights movement sought to address the issue of their continued discrimination, particularly in housing allocation, by demanding equality within Northern Ireland rather than a nationalist solution.
The high infant mortality rate and level of poverty in Northern Ireland particularly amongst the Catholics has been seen by some as a classic case of structural violence sustained within a colonial relationship.
The Catholic civil rights marches in 1968 were seen by Protestants as distinctly threatening thus leading to endemic rioting and street violence in Derry, Londonderry and Belfast.
In 1969 the British Army was sent in to quell the violence. Soon after, followed an escalation of violence between loyalist and republican paramilitary groups and the closing down of Stormont.
After the 1972 ‘Bloody Sunday Massacre’, direct rule was imposed. British troops, Northern Irish security forces and government figures became key targets of sectarian violence up to, and during the recent cease-fire and peace settlement negotiations.
Deeply entrenched bitterness and insecurity remains on both sides, and real and imagined discrimination.
Both communities have written separate histories and literature, maintained separate residential areas, schools and churches, and engendered distinct political identities and at times almost racial stereotypes of the ‘other’.
Children, in particular are made aware of their otherness through their deliberate exposure to the history of the troubles.
Ninety-eight per cent of children in Northern Ireland spend much of their life in segregated schools despite the fact that they may not be so highly segregated in their own their streets or even families.
In Northern Ireland segregation of education and prejudice in teaching, have long been suspected of having key roles in sustaining the conflict.
The present day segregation of education can be traced back to the 1820s when Catholic clergy were allowed to administer schools for Catholics.
Catholic children excluded from state schools had become a source of disorder and needed to be accommodated.
There was fostering of an Irish identity and stated the importance of ‘cherishing all the children of the nation equally’. The creation of the separate entity of Northern Ireland in 1921, however, led to the provision of separate schools for Catholic and Protestant children.
Schools engendered distinct curriculum, and the promotion of Irish and British values became signals of dissent and nationalism, and allegiance to the Union respectively.
Lord Londonderry’s 1923 Education Act had intended that Catholic and Protestant children were schooled together without religious instruction, but considerable opposition from the churches resulted in the segregation of schools from the 1930s onwards.
Most Protestant children were not taught the development of republicanism or the history of Irish nationalism and references. The school system has remained almost entirely sectarian. They were not taught to learn the Irish language.
Segregated schooling initiates children into the conflict by emphasising and validating group differences and hostilities, and encouraging mutual ignorance and, perhaps more importantly, mutual suspicion. The school is essentially a closed environment where potent sentiments expressed between children can ramify their notions of religious difference and physical bullying and peer pressure can reinforce concepts of identity.
The Catholic Church has since remained opposed to integrated schools, often providing theologically based deterrents to parents.
In 1969, Catholic parents who sent their children to a state school were threatened with refusal of communion by the bishop. Integrated education was perceived as an attack on the Catholic religion.
A recent initiative to unite two teacher training colleges was opposed by the Church and ‘pressure was exerted on schoolchildren to get parents signatures opposing it’.
The sensitivity of Catholic clergy is well illustrated by their efforts to influence children’s opinion.
The militarisation of children in Northern Ireland can be shown as a cumulative process which begins with their acceptance of violence as a political means and ends with their mobilisation. Anti-army attitudes amongst Catholic children were common before open warfare began, and studies of Catholic schoolchildren exhibited fear and demonisation in their play and everyday activities.
These young people have learned all their politics, their attitudes to society, growing up in segregated schools, segregated housing estates and segregated youth clubs. They never meet, and they never met.
The Orange Order founded in the 1790s precedes the organised republican movement considerably. Once secret, it is now a prominent feature of life in many Protestant families.
The Orange Order founded in the 1790s precedes the organised republican movement considerably. Once secret, it is now a prominent feature of life in many Protestant families.
Protestant boys, potentially also members of the youth wing of the UVF, the Young Citizens Volunteers, the Ulster Young Militants or the Apprentice Boys of Derry, join their fathers in ‘pseudo-military’ displays throughout the parading season. All sectors of the community on both sides of the divide are made particularly aware of its aims and militant nature.
The parades have existed since 1690, were legalised in 1872, and since the 1970s have taken on a strongly militaristic nature. Over 3500 take place each year, though the numbers of members are diminishing. Orangemen and loyalists stage aggressive displays, walking en masse with their children across divided residential areas and this often prompts rioting.
The Orangemen’s marches visually illustrate the restrained force and traditional symbolism of historical conquest. For young boys of four or five, a parade can be a celebrated first public association with the Orange Order. Women or younger girls are kept to the sidelines. Participation is usually male and the paraders mimic aggressive postures.
The routes of the marches are, or are perceived as statements of territorial claims. Most celebrated of all is the 12th of July Parade, a commemoration of the victory 300 years ago of the Protestant William of Orange over the Catholic James II.
Children at the 1999 12th July Parade, waved flags, and babies wore bibs reading ‘Born to walk the Garvaghy Road’, referring to the Parade’s most contested route.
The Orange Order as a potent force of education and organised politics. Today, boys may join aged eight, and mostly participate between the ages of eight and twelve.
The Orange Order as a potent force of education and organised politics. Today, boys may join aged eight, and mostly participate between the ages of eight and twelve.
Members of the Orange Order have always held considerable influence over education policy in the Province.
Arguably, however, the Order and its activities are an education in themselves, described as ‘the major agency for the introduction to Protestant children of cross-cultural myths, fears and hatreds, and for the sanctioning of verbal and physical aggression’.
Parading can be seen in the context of the importance and centrality of history in the minds of young and old alike. ‘Ireland does not lie in the past; rather Ireland’s history, lies in the present’. Historical and mythical figures anchor identities and play an important role.
Parading is an illustration of traditional repetition of social memory, relied upon to stimulate loyalism and nationalism. In short a hierarchy is confirmed in the street, in a format perhaps particularly conducive for younger people to become involved in and enjoy. Parades and marches are vivid, colourful, loud and aggressive.
Approximately 300 nationalist parades take place compared to 2500 Loyalist events. By contrast the Catholic marches, for example those of The Ancient Order of Hibernians are less militaristic in tone and often have women and children included at the front.
Republican parades are noted as being less aggressive in display, quieter, and with less uniformed presence.
They celebrate, and direct attention towards five causes: the United Irishmen Rising of 1798, the Easter Rising of 1916, ‘Bloody Sunday’, internment in 1971 and the hunger strikers of 1981.
Parading typically mimics aggression and illustrates the intensity of sectarian feeling.
Children have however played a more significant role as militarised bodies, than mere parading, through their actual involvement in political violence, including paramilitary activities, guerilla-warfare and terrorism.
Studies have shown that in trouble spots across the world young people usually make up a significant percentage of liberation and national groups. Northern Ireland has been no exception.
Young people below the age of 18 were a prominent cohort of covert paramilitary organisations in the early 1970s, and the majority of actors at the flashpoints of the troubles have been young male Catholics.
Children’s membership of the youth gangs and organisations enabled their swift incorporation into paramilitary activity as youths and later as adults. The Irish Republican Army was revived after 1969 and its youth organisations provided the platform for its future direction.
Distinct generations of members in the IRA Army Council include those active in the 1940s as young volunteers, those who orchestrated the campaign years of 1952 to 1962, and those who first participated between 1969 and 1972.
Many members were in their early teens when they joined at the height of the violence.
The IRA has remained very successful in attracting pre-adolescent children into its youth groups. Fianna Eireann, the largest junior branch of the IRA organised weekly meetings and a scout type uniform and the Fianna cub section was available for seven to eleven-year olds.
Such groups taught up to a hundred boys at a time about guerrilla techniques, fighting the army and use of firearms. The junior wing of the IRA called itself the Young Boys of Ireland and members wore black berets for official occasions such as funerals, and green berets for field work.
During 1969 British media images and accounts of the civil rights riots in Belfast, Derry, and Londonderry vividly portrayed these youths and children fighting. London-based reporters represented and described children as innocent victims in an adult conflict.
Media reportage of the troubles, ‘rioting’ and ‘civil rights disturbances’ were under-descriptions of the urban guerrilla-warfare that took place.
Throughout the media reporting of ‘the troubles’ children were described as having lost childhood and innocence. These were not normal children.
The majority of accounts suggest that these children were became ‘premature adults’ as they grew up and played alongside armed soldiers, lost family members to terrorism, witnessed chaos, and felt fear in their everyday activities. I
It can also be argued that such narratives about children implicitly serve to illustrate a perceived lack of control or desperation, when in actual fact the use of children is illustrative of the depth of social involvement in the conflict.
In some cases children’s deaths become the turning point in a search for peace. The deaths of three children including a baby of four weeks prompted the biggest popular peace movement in 1976.
It is noticeable that attempts to find peace in Northern Ireland have often begun with reference to children.
It is noticeable that attempts to find peace in Northern Ireland have often begun with reference to children.
The role of the mother as a provider of stability and safety has increased, with the disappearance of men into covert operations, which place home and family under attack.
One of the difficulties in promoting peace has been this delineation between political and non-political spheres which are thought of as separable, though they are mutually inclusive.
It was then that the people of Northern Ireland realised that they had to move on and become more of a civilised society.
Some of the children who grew up in the Troubles unfortunately do engage in undesirable activities like terrorism or whatever.
Ireland's history must not lie in the present, and so much has changed.
Historical Enquiries Team (HET) have made some progress, and investigations are still ongoing until Autumn. The problem with HET is that it was not set up properly as an investigation. It is not completely independent.
The general problem is that "The Troubles" stems from the centuries old civil wars passed down through few generations, and these generations were a bit too backward to try and control events.
During the troubles, we had the British Army and the Police joining the Loyalists or Orangemen to fight against the Nationalists hoping to quell and stop "The Troubles".
It had an impact, and had consequences that were regrettable to some families who had relatives who died or got injured. The British Army and the Police, I believe were trying to fight undercover, some also died or got injured.
It had an impact, and had consequences that were regrettable to some families who had relatives who died or got injured. The British Army and the Police, I believe were trying to fight undercover, some also died or got injured.
I personally, do not think there should be further inquiries, given that it is a long Northern Ireland's history that started the civil wars. As it is a civil war, people in Northern Ireland brought it on themselves, and recruited children to help fuel the civil wars.
Both sides, the Nationalists and the Loyalists are at fault.
Both sides, the Nationalists and the Loyalists are at fault.
It was a political/religion/culture centuries old history passed down through generations.
The Leaders of all the Political Parties and Church Leaders can only apologise for the victims and survivors on television orally altogether, on behalf of the previous generations dating back to over three hundred years ago.
We, all then, can move on.
Call to lay down arms
Northern Ireland’s Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has met with dissident Republicans and Loyalists and urged them to lay down their arms.
The Sinn Fein vice-president has revealed he has met leaders of various dissident groups from both sides including the Real IRA and the Continuity IRA in a bid to persuade them to stop the violence.
The former IRA man has also urged politicians of both sides to embrace the latest peace talks brokered by US diplomat Dr Richard Haass.
Speaking at the Sinn Fein annual convention in Wexford, McGuinness discussed his latest meetings with dissident Republicans after recent escalations in violence in the North.
A debate on a ceasefire has been developing among some factions in recent weeks. I have, and will sit down and talk with all republicans and loyalists opposed to the peace process.
They should stop their activities immediately. The growing public expression among some anti-peace process republicans against armed actions is to be welcomed.
I have been strongly of the opinion that political leaders must engage in dialogue with everyone, including those in groups involved in violence.
Indeed, in recent times, I have met with anti peace process elements, both republican and loyalist, to argue for an end to their activity.
My commitment is to work with those unionists that want to see progress, to consolidate the peace process and turn the political process into one which is solely about delivery not survival.
The starting point must be to honour those agreements already made. To deliver fully on the Programme for Government. To sort out difficulties around the table with the other parties, and not in intra unionist forums. To embrace partnership and equality.
We can unleash the true potential of our people if we can see progress on these age old issues and unite behind the common goal of building a better future for our young people.”
Recommendations:
Leaders to apologise for people, past and present, in over three hundred year old civil wars.
Churches to register with children's safeguarding boards if they want to give education in institutions and care homes run by nuns and monks. To stop systemic abuse and failings, if that has not been done already. Also stop systemic political education to children.
Education to make people aware of the consequences and repercussions of the Northern Ireland civil war.
To reduce parades and less power to the Orange Order, and not build any more Orange Order halls.
To review parades.
To monitor hate crimes closely.
Authorities to prevent any more sectarian conflicts, whether it be religious, political or cultural.
To prevent children from joining any club, organisation or order that might incriminate them to fight a war.
To work for peace and unity in Northern Ireland.
To have total amnesty not just for nationalists, but for loyalists and British soldiers as well.
The Parades Commission to make people aware of determination of parades if they make changes.
More decommissioning of arms.
End of Part four
PART FIVE
It is interesting what Mr McGuinness was saying;
As an Executive of Northern Ireland Assembly, he has been very careful not to make political points and not use the Haass proposals as a political process. It was good to hear that, since the discusssions of the Haass proposals.
It is so very true that Orange Order do not have a vote to their name, and it is not a political party. Orange Order do give the impression that it is like that, when it is not. I get the impression that the Orange Order likes to celebrate some historical events which I find suprising. These past wars are sad times, not happy times.
Mr McGuinness said there were senior people in the DUP who know the reality of the transformed situation in the province and that the Assembly and Executive were the only show in town.
He said that even before Dr Richard Haass and Professor Meghan O'Sullivan had chaired the recent talks he had concluded that issues like the past and parades, while important, could not be used to continually attack the political process. He said: "The Haass proposals as they currently stand represent a huge missed opportunity if they are not accepted by all the parties.
"Two months on from the proposals being published one big question remains unanswered –is political unionism up for doing a deal or not?"
Mr McGuinness went on to ask whether agreement will be subject "to the whim of the Orange Order... extreme loyalism or mavericks who shout the loudest from the sidelines but hardly have a vote to their name".
The Deputy First Minister also turned his attention to dissident republican groups amid reports of what he called a "developing debate on moving away from armed action".
Mr McGuinness said the growing public expression against violence by republican groups opposed to the current peace process was to be warmly welcomed.
He said: "We have said for a long time that dialogue with other republicans and across all strands of national and democratic opinion is an essential part of engagement.
"Militarist actions by a few small groups will only set back the progress being made towards a united Ireland.
"They should stop their activities immediately."
The party's national chairman Declan Kearney said that some within unionism were very angry because they perceived they had been disadvantaged by the peace process.
"They are seized by a fear.
"Fear can be real or imagined but it needs to be heard and addressed when it exists," he said.
Mr Kearney also said some sections of political unionism did not want to compromise on anything.
Gerry Kelly said unionists must realise that it was better to reach a deal sooner rather than later, and perhaps for their own sake.
WHAT HE SAID ABOUT...
Dissidents: "In recent times I have met with anti-peace process elements, both republican and loyalist, to argue for an end to their activity. I restate our willingness to engage with these groups."
Unionists: "I want to appeal to ordinary unionists out there who believe in the peace process, who want to see a better future built for our children, to make your voices heard and to embolden your political leaders to do the right thing and build a shared future together on the basis of equality and respect."
Flags and parades: "The time for agreement is not after the May election nor after the marching season – the time for agreement is now."
Time is of the essence and we must not be enemies of progress. There is nothing to fear at all between all the political parties for each other.
They are established political parties with good intentions of transforming the country, and have an Northern Ireland Assembly.
Not only do we want to see a better future for their children, but for everyone as well.
Children at the moment is our top priority.
Children at the moment is our top priority.
Militarist actions must stop, whether it is to United Ireland or United Northern Ireland. I was thinking before I fell asleep last night, on how it would be nice if we had a gun amnesty, or amnesty of guns and bombs etc.
Militants really must stop, and think if there is any point in continuing to fight, while we have got a political establishment fighting with words, instead of weapons.
Unionists seem to be the block to peace and progress. If they continue like that, we have to have an agreement, and settle differences without them. It would be four against one if that is the way to go.
I agree with Gerry Kelly when he said Unionists must reach a deal sooner than later, and perhaps for their own sake. We cannot have Unionists playing with everyone's lives by not making any decisions.
Unionists have nothing to fear from the political parties. They only have to fear from the Orange Order, who are extreme loyalists or mavericks. The Orange Order is letting the Unionists down, and is damaging the Ulster Unionist Party.
Updated 12th February 2014
US Vice President Joe Biden (above) will use the St Patrick's Day festivities in Washington to push the First and Deputy Ministers to implement the Haass proposals on flags, parading and the past.
While Mr Biden (right) will host a reception with Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness, the big question this year is whether President Barack Obama will turn up.
"We urge Northern Ireland's political leaders to continue to work together to build on this progress, including implementing the proposals where consensus already exists," it said.
That theme is likely to be repeated, with the emphasis on implementation.
Celebrations in Washington are being held three days early this year, on March 14, because Congress breaks up on St Patrick's Day itself.
Mr Biden will host the Northern Ireland leaders this year.
The meeting will be held either in the White House complex or on Capitol Hill. If it is held in the White House, or the Eisenhower Building, it is more likely that Mr Obama will drop by to give Mr Robinson and Mr McGuinness the photocall they want.
Between now, and St Patrick's Day there is expected to be both pressure on and encouragement for the local parties to give Mr Biden and Mr Obama something positive to announce.
US Vice President Joe Biden has taken the lead on the issue to resolving differences in Northern Ireland.
The five main parties are in discussions now until St Patrick's Day, and hopefully they can come up with something constructive, and permanent.
Gerry Adams said that he is willing to talk with the Orange Order to agree on flags, parades, and the past. The Orange Order have not treated Catholics with respect and equality. Catholics deserves to be treated the same as anyone else. "Treat people the way you want them to treat you", that is what I say.
We need the Orange Order's co-operation which is vital to the peace process.
Updated 28th February 2014
Updated 28th February 2014
Our MPs wanted answers about the case of John Downey, and the collapse of the case against him in relation to Hyde Park bombing in 1982.
Today some of the MP's have asked the Prime Minister not to take British Soldiers to court.
Secretary of State Theresa Villiers was asked by one of her own party on the first question on the national security agency.
Tory MP Neil Carmichael asked for an assurance she "will not entertain any ideas of amnesties for terrorists unlike the last government."
Villiers said: "We opposed the legislation proposed under the last government that would have created an effective amnesty."
Nigel Dodds was angry. He said the Downey decision "has undermined confidence not just in policing and justice" but in the wider peace process. He told the Secretary of State to "rescind this shameful backdoor scheme."
Villiers said around 200 cases have been processed "through this scheme; they were sent factual letters stating whether or not they were wanted for terrorist offences."
She added: "Clearly it is not an amnesty and was never intended as such."
She conceded that "a grave mistake was made". Dodds told her there is "outrage right across the country not just in Northern Ireland" that a letter from an official "can trump due process of law in this country".
"Will the Secretary of State not realise how serious this is not just for the process of law and order but for the very stability and continued existence of devolution in Northern Ireland, where the assembly has full responsibility for policing and justice?"
Villiers have always got things wrong about compromises, and asked a call for Haass implementation.
Recent comments and interventions by British Government politicians and officials which fail to concentrate minds on the need to embrace the Haass proposals are unhelpful and counterproductive.
These will deepen the current political impasse, reinforce political unionists’ intransigence, and energise the orange and unionist extremists wedded to a wreckers’ agenda.
These will deepen the current political impasse, reinforce political unionists’ intransigence, and energise the orange and unionist extremists wedded to a wreckers’ agenda.
Sinn Féin endorsed the Haass compromises because they represent the best way forward.
The Irish Government agrees, and the US administration shares that position.
Against the backdrop of the Conservative’s strategic disengagement, unionist intransigence, and with sectarian extremists attempting to exert a veto on progress,.
Tt is essential that the government stands with rest of us in support of the peace process.
Tt is essential that the government stands with rest of us in support of the peace process.
With the CPS failing to recognise to prosecute John Downey while they think a letter would give him immunity not to be prosecuted.
This sparked outrage for Peter Robinson, and some of his colleagues not knowing about the letter.
Theresa Villiers said that the letter does not give immunity.
A Judge has been appointed to review the case which is ongoing.
Some people working in NI Assembly gave oral evidence, as to why some of MLA's including Peter Robinson, did not really know about the letter or letters, and were left in the dark.
John Downey has now returned home.
Villiers and her colleagues are wrong to oppose, that there should be no legislation proposed to create an effective amnesty.
I do not think the Bloody Sunday soldiers should go to court, and I do not think it is fair on loyalists, not to have get out of jail cards.
It is so unjustified that nationalists should be given amnesty from the Good Friday agreement.
It is so unjustified that nationalists should be given amnesty from the Good Friday agreement.
It has been about forty or so years ago.
All these people who took part in fuelling the civil war in the troubles are probably, no doubt so mature.
They have grown old, and possibly with a heavy heart and ridden with guilt.
Everyone is to blame.
All these people who took part in fuelling the civil war in the troubles are probably, no doubt so mature.
They have grown old, and possibly with a heavy heart and ridden with guilt.
Everyone is to blame.
Review
Headed by a Judge
To be completed by May
Will review all documentation and those involved
Will not compel anyone to attend or be questioned under oath
Will produce public account and recommendations
Will determine if letters are sent in error
No 10 says no past ministers have to attend
Letter to, on the runs
"The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has been informed by the Attorney General that on the basis of the information currently available, there is no outstanding direction for prosecution in Northern Ireland, there are no warrants in existence nor are you wanted in Northern Ireland for arrest, questioning or charge by the police. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) are not aware of any interest in you from any other police force in the United Kingdom."
The letter shows John Downey should never have been brought to prosecution in the first place.
I agree when someone said that HET should be scrapped. HET is unreliable and partly independent, and costing millions of pounds.
There have been so much corruption in RUC and PSNI, as they fought in the troubles as well.
I can conclude we all can have a happy ending, if we scrap HET, and have a total amnesty for everyone who took part in the troubles including children.
We may be much closer to peace and unity if there was a total amnesty.
Peace from the Good Friday Agreement is incomplete.
I do so sincerely hope everyone can now agree to complete the peace process.
Peace from the Good Friday Agreement is incomplete.
I do so sincerely hope everyone can now agree to complete the peace process.
Everyone will reunite, move on, and think about the future.
Updated 5th March 2014
This is what John McCallister said;
This is what John McCallister said;
"We set the facts before the people of Northern Ireland - that convictions for offences during the Troubles are now highly unlikely; that a long drawn-out series of investigations and tribunals would only bring more division and more hate; that our politics would be poisoned for the next generation if we didn't take the decision as a society to move forward.
And now, yet again, Northern Ireland's politics is thrown into crisis because of events that happened in the 1970s and 1980s.
A whole generation had come of age in a Northern Ireland without democratic governance, without political institutions truly accountable to the people of Northern Ireland. And violence filled the vacuum.
The point is this is what the Past does to our politics. It drags us back, it destabilises, it divides. It poisons the body politic.
Imagine, then, another 10 or more years of tribunals and investigations, looking into the actions of the state as it tried to hold the line against terrorism from all sides in a society teetering on the brink.
Imagine the discord and rancour this would produce, the endless name-calling debates in the Assembly - all over events that happened before a growing number of people in Northern Ireland were even born.
Is this really what Northern Ireland needs? Is this really how we want our politics to develop over the next decade? Do we really think that this is the type of politics that will inspire our younger citizens to stay in Northern Ireland - never mind become involved in politics?
The past week demonstrates more clearly than ever that through an open and transparent process, such as that suggested by Larkin, we as a society need to move forward. Every assistance possible should be given to victims and survivors seeking to rebuild their lives after injury and loss.
We cannot, however, allow our politics to be defined by the events of the 70s and 80s. 21st century Northern Ireland cannot be torn apart by what happened in 20th century Northern Ireland. We have a stark choice: we move forward or we remain where we are."
I agree with everything he said and so true.
We cannot have futile and fruitless attempts at trying to make inquiries, have investigations which is impossible to proceed, if we continue to live in past.
The pain is so intense, and would never go away. It will certainly bring more division, and more hate with no optimism.
The pain is so intense, and would never go away. It will certainly bring more division, and more hate with no optimism.
Minds are already poisoned, and we have got to stop the poison spreading like cancer. We can get rid of all the poison if we sit down, and write down privately all your negative thoughts on paper and shred the paper. All that poison will disappear, you would be cured and feel cleansed.
You are able to let go of the past.
This is the only way to stop the pain, hate and division.
You are able to let go of the past.
This is the only way to stop the pain, hate and division.
It is a great comfort to know that we all have something in common.
That all of you were in the troubles (victims and survivors) have experienced sectarian violence, loss of loved ones, amongst other things in different ways, but the same problems.
It does not matter any more if you are a different religious denomination, as you are free to choose. It does not matter which political party you belong to, as you are free to choose, and so on.
David Ford was saying "We are light years away".
It has been forty or more years since the decommissioning and the Good Friday agreement.
It has been forty or more years since the decommissioning and the Good Friday agreement.
We have come a long way since NI Assembly was established.
We now have democracy and rights to live the way we choose with freedom, without pain, division, and hate.
Amnesty is the way forward as it will help put the past behind us, would be pardoned and there is always room for forgiveness.
Amnesty is the the next step to peace, freedom and cleanliness of spirit.
We really must have it, then we can truly move on.
There is already a sense of shared and united community, but more needs to be done.
We all want the same things, and want a better quality of life.
Help us build a better Northern Ireland with the help of the NI Assembly.
Peace be with you all.
End of Part five
PART SIX
Review
Headed by a Judge
To be completed by May
Will review all documentation and those involved
Will not compel anyone to attend or be questioned under oath
Will produce public account and recommendations
Will determine if letters are sent in error
No 10 says no past ministers have to attend
Letter to, on the runs
"The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has been informed by the Attorney General that on the basis of the information currently available, there is no outstanding direction for prosecution in Northern Ireland, there are no warrants in existence nor are you wanted in Northern Ireland for arrest, questioning or charge by the police. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) are not aware of any interest in you from any other police force in the United Kingdom."
NI Ireland Assembly and the Committee wants to have the OTR inquiry settled a.s.a.p before the elections in May.
I say that the solution will be is to get all those involved including PSNI submit their own statements for perusal by the Judge.
This saves time of attending which can be so time consuming.
I suggest that I receive all statements which is confidential for me to read, and determine if there are any flaws, questions or discrepancies to pass on to the Judge for recommendations etc.
The Judge then will review the case of OTR.
I hope this is a good proposal.
Data Protection Act
Mr Robinson told us that he would resign unless there was "a full judicial inquiry into all of these matters so that we can see who knew, when they knew and what they knew".
"Those are vital questions to be asked and answered. I want to know who the 187 people are that received these letters … I want to know who they are, what crimes they were believed to have committed."
He also stated: "I want all of the letters rescinded."
Prime Minister David Cameron announced a judge led review of the operation of the scheme to determine whether any other letters were sent in error, announced is not an inquiry. It’s an administrative investigation.
No evidence at all will be given in public.
There is certainly no suggestion of the letters being rescinded.
Peter Robinson is not claiming to have a list of the names, and the crimes they are believed to have committed.
The review will not result in the names being released because, as Jim Allister has pointed out, the Data Protection Act will prevent that – something which would not happen had an inquiry under the 2005 Inquires Act been set up.
It is up to the Judge whether details under the Data Protection Act can be released. We already know some names as one newspaper has printed some.
If details are released, what good will it do for NI Assembly?
It is only an administrative investigation as to why letters were sent in the first place, and why were they sent to only IRA offenders etc.
Updated 7th March 2014
While I am waiting for a response from Northern Ireland Assembly about whether they have plans like creating a new constitution or whatever relating to letters.
Theresa Villiers have said that letters are not immunity. Chief Constable Mike Baggott said letters are not immunity, get out of jail cards, and amnesty.
It would usually mean letters sent to OTRs are worthless and useless.
If I am right, the prisoners were released from the Good Friday Agreement with a letter saying they are effectively on the run. But did the prisoners know they had to be on the run?
It certainly indicates that it is on the run letter giving prisoners immunity.
But why was it written by the Secretary of State, and not the Attorney General or the Justice Department?
Was the Attorney General or the Justice Department informed of the letters?
Is NI Assembly really worried about not bringing prisoners to justice in case they reoffend?
From what I know none of the prisoners have reoffended, and evidence against them are flimsy anyway.
If the IRA prisoners got away with it having received the letters, they are exonerated, and it is too late to try and get justice. That is because the Loyalists, Soldiers and RUCs did not get letters in spite of them having committed crimes. Even if they do not have letters any more.
Power sharing started as part of the Good Friday Agreement. Westminster was still running NI for a while so was entitled to send letters whenever they saw fit.
But why did Westminster send letters to prisoners if they were released or escaped anyway?
It was a very big administrative error.
I get it.
I can get newspaper accounts from witnesses, and record them on this post to speed things up without any documentation from Westminster.
The announcement is expected in a speech due to be delivered to the Association of European Journalists in Belfast today.
The Government has formally killed off the 'letters of comfort' scheme which allowed on-the-run IRA suspects to return home free of prosecution.
"No letters have been issued by the NIO since December 2012 and as far as this Government is concerned, the scheme is over," Secretary of State Theresa Villiers will say today.
For the avoidance of any doubt it needs to be clearly understood by all recipients that no letters which have been issued can be relied on to avoid questioning or prosecution for offences where information or evidence becomes available now or later.
It is understood that this means that former fugitives who – like John Downey, the suspected Hyde Park bomber freed last month – have received letters saying they are not wanted can only rely on them to a limited extent.
While they cannot be charged on existing evidence alone, if new evidence came to light then existing evidence could be used to corroborate it.
Referring to Mr Downey, who is suspected of the 1982 attack which killed four soldiers, she said: "And in the case of Mr Downey it was the fact that the letter he was sent was factually incorrect and misleading that led the judge to rule that an abuse of process had occurred.
"John Downey should never have been sent a letter saying he wasn't wanted by the police because at all times he was wanted by the Metropolitan police in relation to the Hyde Park bombing.
Ms Villiers issued an apology to "people who have never seen the killers of their loved ones brought to justice. I am very sorry that what's happened in recent days will have revived painful memories for many victims,".
She also pledged "an end to the era of secret side deals and evasive parliamentary answers" that she said had characterised the previous Labour administration.
PSNI
An emergency meeting of the Policing Board took place during which members pressed officers, including Chief Constable Matt Baggott, on the controversy.
Tempers flared as members voiced their fury over police involvement in the secret deals with 187 republican terror suspects.
SDLP deputy leader Dolores Kelly said police claimed not to have known about the letters until last May.
Last week Mr Baggott apologised following the collapse of the trial of alleged IRA Hyde Park bomber John Downey.
The murder trial was thrown out after it emerged Downey – accused of killing four soldiers – was wrongly sent one of the letters telling him he was not being pursued by police.
DUP MLA Jonathan Craig echoed the frustrations of his fellow board member following yesterday's meeting.
He said his party had submitted a request to trigger legislation compelling Mr Baggott to produce a written report on the OTR letters.
"The answers provided in today's meeting of the Northern Ireland Policing Board did nothing to increase knowledge or understanding of the role of the PSNI in the OTR administrative scheme," he added.
"The DUP members of the board will pursue to the end the disclosure of every scrap of information available on this matter."
PSNI Chief Constable Matt Baggott has insisted members of the Policing Board were fully briefed about a process to deal with on-the-run IRA suspects.
Responding to DUP member Jonathan Craig's claims. Mr Baggott said during a Policing Board meeting in 2010 the OTR issue was discussed and further details - including the number of on-the-runs (OTRs) involved in the process - were sent in a follow-up letter to members.
"Let me be clear about this," said Mr Baggott. "You were briefed."
Mr Baggott told the Policing Board meeting the PSNI acted lawfully when participating in the scheme regarding on-the-runs. He rejected claims the letters provided an amnesty.
Meanwhile, the prospect of former Prime Minister Tony Blair being held to account over the on-the-run letters scandal moved a step closer as a parliamentary inquiry into the fiasco was unanimously given the go-ahead by the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee for the move.
Unlike the judge-led inquiry announced by Prime Minister David Cameron and Secretary of State Theresa Villiers last week, it will have the power to compel any witnesses it calls to give evidence.
The chair of the powerful committee, Laurence Robertson, has already confirmed former Prime Minister Tony Blair is among those with questions to answer regarding his role in the controversial scheme.
"We feel that the terms of reference of the judge-led inquiry, announced by the government last week, are too narrow," he said.
"There is also concern that evidence will be taken in private during that inquiry, when, in fact, it is the secrecy of the on-the-runs scheme which has contributed greatly to the problems."
Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt yesterday questioned why one-week on from the call for a judge-led inquiry into the on-the-runs controversy, no inquiry had yet begun.
"This stinks of a cover-up designed to push the conclusion of the process beyond the May 22 elections," he said.
Peter Hain, former Secretary of State
Former secretary of state for Northern Ireland Peter Hain has said it is risible for key politicians to claim they had no knowledge so-called comfort letters were sent to IRA on-the-runs.
In a week when controversy over the scheme threatened to pull down Stormont's devolved government, the Labour MP said it was clear for anyone who wanted to see that the assurances were not get out of jail cards, immunity or amnesty.
The case revealed the extent of an assurance scheme for OTRs and a deal the last Labour government struck with Sinn Fein that saw more than 180 individuals given letters similar to Mr Downey's, clearing their way to return home.
Another five cases involving IRA terror suspects are active.
"There is no suggestion that the contents of the letters to those 'on the runs' were cleared with key politicians of all parties, or the details of the scheme shared, but the idea that they did not know anything about them is risible," Mr Hain said.
"Even when the letters were in the public domain, there was still misrepresentation, whether wilfully or not, about what the letters sent between 2001 and 2012 actually said and meant - and this process caused the victims even greater pain."
Mr Hain said no-one in government has anything to hide and ministers acted honourably.
Mr Hain outlined the background to the arrangement in 2007.
Sinn Fein's Gerry Kelly gave names of OTRs to the Government but ministers were not told who the individuals were. The PSNI checked records for evidence which could lead to an arrest or prosecution at the time or into the future and after a second check the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) signed the letters.
The Attorney General confirmed the scheme was lawful, Mr Hain said.
While the majority of the cases were dealt with under the last government, almost 40 outstanding applications were taken on by the coalition Government when it assumed power in 2010.
Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams claimed the entire controversy around OTRs was a sham crisis.
"It is important to understand that the letters provided cannot be rescinded. If you're not wanted - you're not wanted. Clearly, despite all of the feigned brouhaha and hot air generated by unionist leaders this process is not an amnesty."
Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness claims the fact other republicans were denied letters - and told they would be arrested if they entered the UK - proves that assurances were nothing more than official confirmation that there was no evidence linking individuals to offences..
Nationalist politicians in Northern Ireland also claimed unionists have been aware of the scheme for a long time - noting references to it in a number of public forums, reports and publications in recent years.
Meanwhile, DUP leader Mr Robinson has accused former prime minister Tony Blair of a "deliberate deception by omission" by failing to tell the majority of politicians in Northern Ireland about the agreement his government struck with Sinn Fein.
Unionists have dismissed claims they have been aware of the scheme for a long time after references in a number of public forums, reports and publications were released.
Unionists have dismissed claims they have been aware of the scheme for a long time after references in a number of public forums, reports and publications were released.
The crisis at Stormont compounded difficulties party leaders have had agreeing on stalled proposals for dealing with outstanding peace process issues, including the toxic legacy of the past, drawn up by former US diplomat Dr Richard Haass.
Sinn Fein was not the only group to seek information on named individuals.
According to the judgment in the Downey case, an NIO briefing note from September 2002 recorded 162 names provided by Sinn Fein - 61 of whom were told they could return.
The document also stated that the Irish Government sought information on two people and the Prison Service information on 10.
The Department of Justice in Dublin clarified that it did not issue any letters to any individuals in respect of OTR issues.
Peter Hain said "Just as you think things are going smoothly, something will come out of the woodwork to bite you in Northern Ireland,” was one of the sayings of an old stager when I was negotiating the historic settlement that devolved power to locally elected politicians in the region in May 2007. And that certainly happened very often during my time as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
After a relatively quiet period by those old standards, the political storm that is now raging over the collapsed prosecution of John Downey, a suspect in the 1982 Hyde Park bombing, has plunged many victims back into trauma – not least the families of those who were killed, who have been denied the chance to see justice take its course.
It is shocking, it is heartbreaking, and it should not have happened. Other victims in Northern Ireland and elsewhere will be questioning whether their own search for justice for the murder of their loved ones will suffer the same fate.
I remember clearly the carnage unleashed in Hyde Park on the morning of Tuesday July 20 1982, as members of the Blues and Royals Regiment of the Household Cavalry were on their way to Horse Guards for the Changing of the Guard when a car bomb exploded. Four of the guards were murdered — Lieutenant Anthony Daly, aged 23; Trooper Simon Tipper, 19; Lance Corporal Jeffrey Young, 19; and Squadron Quartermaster Corporal Roy Bright, 36. Another 31 people were injured, a number of them seriously, and the blood and flesh of the seven horses destroyed were splattered grotesquely over the scene.
Whatever the future holds, there must never be a situation where our soldiers and police officers and their families feel that their dedication and sacrifice is diminished or goes unacknowledged.
Since the collapse of the Downey case, wild accusations have been flung around that former IRA members have been given a “get out of jail card”, granted immunity in perpetuity, or given an “amnesty”. In Parliament last Wednesday, the Attorney General Dominic Grieve (and before that Mr Justice Sweeney, in throwing out the Downey case) confirmed that the scheme under which the cases of 187 “on the run” IRA members were processed – 38 of them under the current government – was none of these.
The so-called “comfort letters” sent to the “on the runs” – one of which led to the collapse of the Downey case – were carefully and very clearly couched. “The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has been informed by the Attorney General that on the basis of the information currently available, there is no outstanding direction for prosecution in Northern Ireland, there are no warrants in existence nor are you wanted in Northern Ireland for arrest, questioning or charge by the police. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) are not aware of any interest in you from any other police force in the United Kingdom.”
In Downey's case a fundamental and catastrophic error was made because in fact the Met were very interested in Downey, but for some reason this crucial fact was not picked up by the PSNI team. Had it been, no letter would have been issued – hence the prosecution fiasco. But the letter itself contained phrases common to all those who were processed administratively in this way.
Crucially, the letters also state that if circumstances changed and offences came to light, they would be dealt with in the usual way. So much for “get out of jail cards”, immunity or amnesty.
And before anyone starts saying that political pressure must have been put on the PSNI to say they were not interested in individuals who received a letter, I would simply reply that they do not know Sir Hugh Orde, Chief Constable Matt Baggott or the officers of the PSNI.
Those who are now raging against the scheme cannot have it both ways. They cannot say that justice must prevail above all and that we must follow its course to the letter, but then, when the police say they have no interest in a person, respond that the dogs in the street know they must be guilty of something and that they should be under lock and key anyway. That’s called internment.
The aftermath of the Hyde Park Bombing outrage that killed four soldiers and seven horses
The recent hue and cry has also implied there was something sordid or furtive about the “on the runs” scheme – that ministers might have bent the law or even ceded authority to Sinn Fein, allowing them to be judge and jury over these cases. Neither accusation is remotely true.
But in order to get the historic 2007 devolution deal, I oversaw the final acceleration of this administrative scheme, which was operated by the police independently of the government, though it was overseen by government law officers.
The process was as follows: Sinn Fein’s Gerry Kelly put forward the names of those who believed they might be unable to return to UK jurisdiction without fear of arrest. A PSNI unit then conducted a painstaking check on each one to see if there was any evidence to take forward an arrest and prosecution. The test applied by the Public Prosecution Service was not simply whether the evidential test was no longer met, but whether it could ever be met. No minister was involved in any case or knew the names of the individuals concerned. The letters were finally signed by an official in the Northern Ireland Office, but only after a second check showed that all was in order.
The Attorney General also confirmed that “the system of giving an assurance to an individual that they are not wanted because they are indeed not wanted and there is no current basis for wanting them” was lawful. It was done, he said, “with the intention of taking the peace process forward, and done in a way that was not intended to prejudice, first, the rule of law and, secondly, the right of victims and relatives of victims to see justice be done”.
Let’s put this whole business into context. I understand perfectly why victims of the Troubles felt betrayed when, following the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, more than 400 Loyalist and Republican paramilitary prisoners, many convicted of appalling terrorist crimes, were released on licence. But this was a key factor in facilitating the agreement.
Yet there remained the anomaly of more than 200 Northern Ireland terrorist suspects “on the run”, completely outside the reach of our justice system, but possibly wanted for terrorist offences that took place before April 10 1998. All active republicans such as these had to sign up to the peace process to make it work.
I introduced legislation in the House of Commons in 2005 to establish a legal process to address the matter. I did so reluctantly, but out of necessity for the greater good of peace. It made provision for those suspected of an offence to go before a Special Judge, and then released on licence, subject to not reoffending.
Clearly Sinn Fein were only interested in their people, but I wasn’t having that. The legislation would also have to cover former soldiers who had stepped over the line in the execution of their duties – for instance, those involved in the 1972 Bloody Sunday shootings.
Now, having asked for this legislation – and having been well aware of the contents of the Bill – Sinn Fein were then pressurised by the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) to withdraw their support precisely because I insisted that any such legislation must apply equally to members of the security forces. They all hated that, but I was never going to agree to exempt terrorists and not our soldiers, so I withdrew the Bill. Frankly, I was glad to see the back of it.
That, however, still left the thorny “on the runs” issue as an obstacle to resolving the conflict and bringing peace. So the administrative process that had begun years before, during David Trimble’s time as First Minister, was continued. This was a normal criminal-justice process, albeit given new impetus, because the clock was running down on the opportunity for a deal.
The scheme was actually much less wide-ranging than the legislation would have been, because it could only deal with people against whom a police investigation had demonstrated that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute.
As for the accusation that all this was “secret”, the record speaks for itself. I told the Commons on January 11 2006 that the government still believed the “on the runs” anomaly would “need to be faced at some stage” to take the peace process forward. John Reid, a predecessor as Secretary of State, had told the House much the same thing. In a reply to a parliamentary question on July 1 2002, he summarised the process.
In January 2009, it was spelt out again in an official report by Lord Eames and Denis Bradley. It explicitly flagged the fact that around 200 individuals had been processed by the police and the Public Prosecution Service by that stage.
Policing Board member Denis Bradley and former Ulster Unionist Assembly member Basil McCrea confirmed that the board had indeed been briefed on the scheme. Tellingly, McCrea told the BBC: “The information was there for all those who wanted to look – but not all wanted to look.”
In his memoirs, based upon his contemporaneous diary, Tony Blair’s chief of staff, Jonathan Powell, stated that he had informed both current First Minister Peter Robinson and the Democratic Unionist Party parliamentary leader Nigel Dodds; they were to pass this on to Ian Paisley. They were able to live with it, since the whole process had begun way back when David Trimble was leading the peace process from the Northern Ireland side.
There is no suggestion that the contents of the letters to those “on the runs” were cleared with key politicians of all parties, or the details of the scheme shared, but the idea that they did not know anything about them is risible.
Even when the letters were in the public domain, there was still misrepresentation, whether wilfully or not, about what the letters sent between 2001 and 2012 actually said and meant – and this process caused the victims even greater pain.
Getting an agreement to end the terror and evil over Northern Ireland was tortuously difficult. It involved deals with all sides, some necessarily exclusive to them and not shared at the time. For instance, in a “secret side deal” (to borrow the rhetoric of the past few days), I appointed an Interim Victims’ Commissioner in autumn 2005, at Ian Paisley’s express request, and that caused a furore among other political parties. Although obviously very different to the toxic “on the runs”, both were essential to the ultimate success of the negotiations.
Operating in that way would not be appropriate and certainly not right in a normal society like that of England, Wales or Scotland. But this was a deep and vicious conflict going back generations, even centuries.
And taking difficult decisions to make political progress in Northern Ireland was not unique to Tony Blair’s government. Margaret Thatcher had signed the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement that was hated by Unionists, and she was roundly attacked for “treating with Dublin”. It was John Major who began the engagement with the IRA that would ultimately lead to the Good Friday Agreement, and he was attacked for that just as our government has been. But, because he was right, he had the support of the then Labour opposition, in the spirit of a bipartisan endeavour.
That is why David Cameron, his Secretary of State and Attorney General continued to operate the scheme, their officials sending letters like the one to Downey to another 38 republicans.
Resolving the issue of the “on the runs” was absolutely essential in order to make progress in Northern Ireland. Without that, I do not think we would have arrived at the situation when, on my watch on July 28 2005, the IRA declared a historic end to its war. Or the subsequent decommissioning of the IRA’s arsenal. Or, crucially, Sinn Fein’s agreement in 2007 to support policing and the rule of law, with the backing of IRA cadres, which opened the door to seven years of relatively stable shared government by bitter old enemies.
But, as recent controversy and political grandstanding has confirmed, I remain of the view that Northern Ireland looks over its shoulder too much at the past, rather than to the future. It is time – as the Eames-Bradley report and the recent one from American interlocutor Richard Haas have compellingly argued – to find a comprehensive and inclusive way to deal with the past.
Northern Ireland has escaped from the conflict, but is still trapped by its leftovers. Hard as it is for victims on all sides, I see no point in endlessly searching for evidence of crimes committed so many years ago in the Troubles, which is increasingly difficult to get, given the passage of time.
Ironically, given our very public past differences, I am with the Attorney General for Northern Ireland on this point. And if we are going to draw a line on historic and, in all probability, fruitless investigations, that must include the pursuit of soldiers involved in the Bloody Sunday incident.
Diverting police time to investigate Bloody Sunday soldiers or crimes from the Troubles seems a waste when the priority today should surely be tracking down the tiny, but dangerous, attacks from dissident IRA groups, as well as facilitating ordinary, plain community safety.
Meanwhile, let us never forget just how far Northern Ireland has travelled. Instead of evil and horror, there is now peace and stability. It was hard-won and must not be allowed to slip because of this controversy.
I welcome the Prime Minister’s statement on a review of the operation of the “on the runs” scheme to make sure no other errors were made, and First Minister Peter Robinson’s subsequent stepping back from the brink. None of us on the government side have anything to hide. We acted honourably throughout.
The peace settlement we delivered was designed to ensure that there are no more victims like those of Hyde Park. But settling old political scores at the expense of that process will serve no victim.
Peter Hain MP was Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2005-07.
The Northern Ireland secretary has pledged to put an end to "the era of secret deals" in the peace process.
The scheme was concealed from other politicians in Northern Ireland and the Irish government of Bertie Ahern.
It does not make sense why we have a secret scheme.
Trust Villiers to put her foot in it, and wrecking the peace process.
A letter is a letter, and it is a letter, saying no one is going to bother you, and you can get on with your life. It is supposed to offer guarantee that you will not be touched. Villiers cannot go back on her word. It is breaking a promise, and breaching rights to live.
What happened years ago, you cannot simply turn the clock back to suit yourself.
Like what Sinn Fein says "It is bad faith".
Conor Murphy, Sinn Fein MP for Newry and Armagh, said: "What her comments smack off is her complete lack of understanding of the peace process and the political viewpoints of republicans and nationalists, something which has been typical of her tenure in the North.
"Both the British and Irish governments signed up to deal with this anomaly at the Weston Park talks (political summit in 2001) and this current British Government adhered to it.
"To renege on this agreement between governments, following pressure from unionists, is a sign of bad faith."
Despite Hain saying he defends the secret scheme, while Ivan Lewis is saying it is a catastrophic error.
There is no doubt relations have gone sour, between the Northern Ireland Assembly and Westminster.
We have this great uncertainty now, about what could happen in the future.
We should have seized the initiative in setting the agenda, but in failing, has had to react to rather than shape events and decisions.
It may be right, at this time, to request further consideration of those issues arising from Haass but in failing to shape the talks into a process for reconciliation and resolution built on those standards of democracy from which the community has strayed too far, it follows a narrow and flawed agenda of diminishing appeal
We need to be able to shape decisions at Westminster, and hold the decision makers accountable before laws come into effect.
We need to move away from flags, banners, parades and regalia and take a break. Allow them to be what they are, namely cultural and not tribal or territorial.
Focus instead on reconciliation and resolution to challenge and correct the moral and ethical deficit spawned by the tactics and policies of different parties within the peace process
It needs to work in the space provided by the Good Friday Agreement and subsequent agreements, to build reconciliation through sensitive discourse, and interaction aimed at resolving difference.
Sometimes in life it is not so much what happens, but what you do with it that is the most important. Life does not always turns out what you expect it to be.
I have never thought writing a blog about resolving differences and getting agreements to the peace process for Northern Ireland was going to be like this.
1st September 2014
Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness, Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister has used a keynote speech in the Creggan area of Derry marking the 20th anniversary of the 1994 IRA ceasefire to call for dissident republicans to lay down their arms. He said "on those who recognise the enormous progress we have made, and continue to make, since the IRA cessation in 1994 to make their voices heard. There can be no return to the violence and repression that scarred this society for so long. I would urge dissident republicians still committed to armed actions to take that same step in 2014 into politics and away from conflict".
There have been previous ceasefires which have been broken before.
