THE outgoing victims’ commissioner Ian Jeffers has made the controversial suggestion that all families of those who were killed during the Troubles should receive financial compensation, including relatives of paramilitaries.
Having submitted the plans in an advice paper to the Executive Office at Stormont, he has already acknowledged the reaction will be divisive.
The idea isn’t new and was first suggested in 2009 by the Consultative Group on the Past – an independent group set up to examine how to address the legacy of the Troubles.
The report by Denis Bradley (a former vice-chair of the Northern Ireland Policing Board) and Lord Eames (a former Church of Ireland Primate), unsurprisingly provoked an angry reaction from unionists and victims’ groups who did not agree with compensating the families of loyalist and republican paramilitaries.
The Eames Bradley report had suggested payments of around £12,000 for all families affected, costing around £300m.
It also suggested the creation of a legacy commission to take over the work of the Police Ombudsman and the Historical Enquiries Team.
The results of a consultation the following year, with 174 responses, showed most rejected the plans completely.
It is now reported that the advice paper from Mr Jeffers shows a new scheme could cost over £130m, which would apply to around 13,000 families with an estimated pay out of £10,000.
The TUV leader Jim Allister has already dismissed the plans as a “Provo pay day for terrorist relatives”.
“It is shameful that the victims’ commissioner has used his final major contribution not to highlight the ridiculous delays in getting pensions approved for deserving innocents, but to call for a payment of £10,000, or more, to be made to the relatives of not just victims but also victim-makers,” he said.
In his paper to the Executive Office, Mr Jeffers said that beyond the controversy he saw a value of a “recognition payment to those suggested in this paper in promoting reconciliation”.
Last month, a number of victims’ groups called for the Eames-Bradley report to be given another chance.
Representatives from Families of the Disappeared, the WAVE Trauma Centre and the Peace Factory raised the issues with politicians in Leinster House.
They argued there had been too much focus on the payments, and that the agreement had provided a structured way to help those from all backgrounds affected by violence.
