A controversial legacy investigation body has taken on just eight cases in the first four months of operation.
The Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) was set up under the British government’s legacy act and became operational in May.
The contentious body was established under the Conservative Party’s Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023, which ended all inquests and civil cases, as well as introducing conditional immunity.
The chief commissioner of the ICRIR is former Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan, while former senior police officer Peter Sheridan heads its investigations.
Many victims, and relatives of those who died during the Troubles, are strongly opposed to the ICRIR, believing it to be part of British government attempts to protect state participants from accountability.
The Labour Party has said it intends to repeal and replace the Legacy Act, although the ICRIR will be retained.
In its first ‘accountability update’ the commission has confirmed that to date 10 requests for investigations have been formally made, of which eight have been accepted.
These include an investigation into the IRA’s Guildford pub bombings in October 1974, which resulted in the deaths of four British soldiers and a civilian.
A spokeswoman for the ICRIR did not provide a full list of the requests for investigation accepted when asked, saying “the commission website will contain high level information about the cases being taken forward, but the level of detail provided about any investigation will be limited according to the circumstances”.
It is known that the family of IRA member Seamus Bradley, who was shot by British army in Derry in 1972, has engaged with the body.
The new body has also confirmed that since it was set up it has received 85 enquiries from members of the public.
The recent update also confirmed that as of August 31 the commission has employed 86 staff members, including members of the PSNI, Police Ombudsman’s Office and Operation Kenova.
The ICRIR did not respond directly when asked how many of its employees are former members of the RUC, PSNI or both.
A spokeswoman said the commission “has recruited people from a diverse range of investigative backgrounds including, the office of the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland, Kenova, police forces across the UK and people from other sectors such as HMRC and journalism”.
“Thorough background checks and declarations of interest are reviewed and assessed before any appointment the commission makes,” she added.
She said before an investigator is assigned a case “they are required to certify that they do not have any conflicts of interest”.
In June a drive to recruit “intelligence officers” with knowledge of “Northern Ireland Terrorism” was branded a “spookfest” by Relatives for Justice.
Under a heading of “staff composition”, the new commission provided a gender and ethnicity breakdown but did not provide figures for community or religious breakdown.
When asked to provide a breakdown, a spokeswoman said the commission “is working alongside the Equalities Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI) to put in place appropriate systems to collect detailed equalities information about staff across the commission” and these will be published in the year.
The Accountability Update was made public shortly after 8pm on Sunday.
Mr Morgan said his organisation is moving into a new phase.
“We are now at a stage where people have come forward and put their trust in the Commission to take their requests forward. We will now do so in line with our values and core principles,” he said.
“We are moving into the next phase of our work as the serious and important task of investigation begins.
Mr Sheridan said that “many of the individuals and families that the Commission will meet will have experienced harm and suffering and may have waited many years to find out more about what they and their loved ones went through.
“We recognise the seriousness of the work that we are undertaking and understand that how we do things is as important as what we do,” he added.
Daniel Hoder, from the Committee on the Administration of Justice said: “These figures show that the ICRIR being set up has led to legacy investigations grinding to a halt.
“Four months in the ICRIR has only eight cases.
“Compare this to the hundreds being dealt with by the Police Ombudsman, Inquests, civil litigation and police teams that have all been shut down by the Legacy Act.”
Mr Holder also criticised the manner in which the Accountability Update was released.
“The low numbers explain why the ICRIR has ... only sipped them out on a Sunday evening with a focus on the number of enquiries and not cases,” he said.
