Pringle: British government legacy proposals will not deliver justice or peace for victims of the Troubles
- Updated: 26th May 2022
Independent TD for Donegal, Thomas Pringle, said the legacy proposals the British Government put forward last week “were a shocking attempt to cover up the wrongdoings carried out by the British state in the North”.
Addressing the Dáil on Wednesday, Deputy Pringle said: “It is clear that the proposals put forward in the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill were not about delivering justice, truth or peace for victims of the Troubles and their families, who have waited decades for answers.
“It is clearly about taking this access away in order to protect Britain,” he said.
Deputy Pringle was speaking on statements on recent developments in Northern Ireland.
The deputy said peace must be protected and advanced.
He said: “Westminster seems to see itself as a neutral observer whose role is to go in and ‘sort out’ the conflict in the North. There is a serious misunderstanding and ignorance here. They fail to recognise the fact that, not only are they not an innocent observer, but they are actually the perpetrator of much of this violence and the conflict originated from their occupation of this island in the first place.
“The British have inflicted pain after pain on the people of the North and they continue to do so with this bill,” he said.
Noting the bill would end ongoing legacy inquests, Deputy Pringle said: “This is not acceptable. All promised inquests deserve the chance for legal mechanisms to discover the truth.
“It is shocking that such processes, that have a clear human rights approach and are delivering results, would be stopped,” he said.
Deputy Pringle said: “It seems that Britain is trying to protect itself from the damning things that these inquiries were finding.”
He said: “It is clear that the British government is looking for full and complete control – control over the narrative of what happened in the North, because they don’t like the light being shed on the terrible crimes that have been committed in their name.”
The deputy said: “We cannot let the narrative of Irish history be controlled and determined by the British, the way it has been so often in the past.”
The bill would also directly limit the ability of people in the North to challenge alleged breaches of the European Convention on Human Rights in Northern Ireland courts, a move Deputy Pringle called, “completely unacceptable”.
He said the Model Bill Team, an NGO comprised of experts from Queens University Belfast and the Committee on the Administration of Justice, have deemed the bill unworkable and in breach of the Good Friday Agreement and international law.
Deputy Pringle also expressed his support for the Irish Language Act in the North and said the British Government cannot be allowed to use the protocol to further their own political ends.
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