The Government said it wants to work with authorities in Northern Ireland to ensure Post Office branch managers wrongly convicted in the Horizon IT scandal in the region have their names cleared.
Blanket legislation to exonerate subpostmasters convicted in England and Wales will be introduced within weeks after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said they were victims of “one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation’s history”.
While justice is a devolved issue in Northern Ireland, Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake told MPs the Government wants to see a consistent approach across the UK.
He said: “We are very keen to make this a UK-wide scheme so everybody knows where they stand.
“Despite the fact the legal system is different in Northern Ireland, the assembly of the cases was done by the Post Office in most cases so the same issues apply. We don’t want to see any delay.
“We will be engaging with the Northern Ireland authorities. We are very keen to do that as quickly as possible.”
Retail NI, which represents most Northern Irish Post Offices, said it will be seeking more detail from the Government.
Chief executive Glyn Roberts said: “We hope that this announcement will at long last provide justice and financial support to impacted subpostmasters in Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
“We will be seeking clarification about how these proposals will apply here.”
He added: “Post Offices deliver vital services to the most vulnerable in communities: providing parcel and letter collection and despatch; access to cash, essential utilities plus banking and government services.
“Without the network, thousands of people in Northern Ireland would be cut adrift from these vital services.”
Sinn Fein vice-president Michelle O’Neill said she hopes those wrongly convicted in Northern Ireland will swiftly be cleared.
She said: “I have stood with the Post Office workers. These people have been wronged. It is absolutely disgraceful what has happened to these people.
“They have had their lives devastated. They have had their reputations tarnished. It has impacted their entire families.
“These people deserve to be fully compensated. They need to have their prosecutions wiped because they were failed at every turn.
“Hopefully we can get to a point now to get the resolution they have asked for.”
