A truth campaigner has made fresh calls for a controversial British government legacy body to be abolished.
Prominent campaigner Raymond McCord made the call amid ongoing concerns over the role of the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR).
Mr McCord’s son Raymond Jr was beaten to death by a UVF gang in November 1997 and some of those believed to have been involved in the brutal murder include police informers.
The ICRIR became operational in May this year as part of the British government’s Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023, which ended all inquests and civil cases, as well as introducing conditional immunity.
In September the Court of Appeal found the commission is incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in respect of the power held by the Secretary to withhold sensitive information from families.
Many people impacted by the Troubles remain bitterly opposed to the ICRIR, believing it to be part of British government attempts to protect state participants from accountability.
While the Westminster government has said it will repeal and replace the legacy act, it plans to the retain the ICRIR.
Mr McCord has said the must now be “abolished, not reformed or tinkered with”.
“It has been rejected by practically all victims,” he said. “For me truth and justice evolves around what victims want and with respect to organisations and groups it’s about every individual victim’s desire and need.
“We cannot allow a body, state agency or political agenda or narrative dictate on how or what justice will be.”
Mr McCord’s comments came as the ICRIR made its first arrest in connection with a murder in the early 1990s.
The suspect was later released without charge.
Writing in the Irish News this week ICRIR official Ken Surtees said the contentious body “is the best chance since 1998 to tackle the legacy of Northern Ireland’s Troubles/Conflict”.
Mark Thompson, of Relatives for Justice, was also critical of the new body.
“The ICRIR is the classic Ulsterisation of the issue,” he said.
“It was created by the Tories and the Tories handpicked those running it.
“The unvarnished truth is that the ICRIR was designed to prohibit proper investigations into the activities of British state forces; not least their intelligence agencies and agents given the veto powers within the Legacy Act afforded to the UK government.”
A spokeswoman for the ICRIR said it is “determined to work with those individuals to achieve an outcome that fully addresses their concerns”.
“In relation to the recruitment of ICRIR senior staff we have said previously, and reiterate, that all our appointments have been made in line with public sector good practice recruitment, which is built on the following principles – appointment on merit based on fair and open competition,” she said.
“To suggest otherwise is inaccurate.
“Finally, the ICRIR is not going to protect anyone involved in murder or causing serious injury. Our purpose is to tell the unvarnished truth and that includes exposing collusion and state violence when it has occurred.”
