The British government’s attempt to draw a veil over the past has been regularly challenged on the basis of legality and morality. Now it has been additionally confronted on the basis of humanity, with the O’Dowd family criticising the government’s proposed legacy bill and demanding their right to truth and justice.
Their call came on the 100th birthday of their father Barney O’Dowd, the oldest surviving victim of the Troubles. He was shot five times when loyalists attacked the family home near Gilford, Co Down in 1976, but he survived. His two sons and their uncle were killed.
At about the same time, loyalists also killed the three Reavey brothers at Whitecross, 15 miles away. Both attacks are believed to have been carried out by the Glenanne Gang, which included members of the RUC, UDR and UVF.
The following evening 10 Protestants were shot dead at Kingsmills.
It is difficult to accept the British government’s argument that such tragic events should be consigned to the dustbin of history. If there had been 16 deaths in two days in Britain, it is unlikely that they would remain neglected by the justice system or covered up by retrospective legislation.
Apart from the ethical implications of concealing the past, the O’Dowd family’s demand for justice reflects the ongoing human suffering of the victims’ loved ones. Barney O’Dowd has waited 48 years for the truth about who killed three members of his family and who sent them out to do it.
The Reavey family and the relatives of the Kingsmills dead have that same right to the truth, as has every family bereaved during the Troubles. Concealing the truth will merely prolong their agony.
The past cannot be changed, but it can be laid to rest by unearthing the truth and administering justice. Only then can we shape a common future.
There is no guarantee that a truth recovery process will uncover every detail of our 30 years of violence, but it is the only way to address the tragedy and inhumanity of our recent history.
That will require the government to scrap its legacy bill and replace it with a statutory process to establish what happened, who did it and why.
That would deliver closure on our past - an appropriate present for Barney O’Dowd celebrating his 100th birthday.
