Difficulties surrounding the sharing of secret Garda and Irish Defence Forces intelligence files with a revamped Northern legacy inquiry are “not insurmountable”, Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan has said.
However, the Government has emphasised that the final terms of legislation in Dublin will not be set down until the British government manages to win support for legislation on its side and ensure its passage at Westminster.
The agreement with the Omagh Inquiry headed by Andrew Turnbull covering sensitive information should prove the model to cover the sharing of information about other unsolved Troubles killing, said Mr O’Callaghan.
“I believe there will be full co-operation by An Garda Síochána with any inquiries established in Northern Ireland, specifically inquiries about redacted censored intelligence information. I don’t believe that is a problem that is insurmountable,” he went on.
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However, he emphasised that the co-operation must work both ways: “Obviously, this is an arrangement that should operate reciprocally as is provided for in [the agreement]. So, it has to work both ways.
“If there is sensitive information there held in either jurisdiction that we should all make best efforts to ensure that that information is available to inquirers,” the Minister told reporters.
[ Irish legislation on Northern Ireland legacy issues to follow UK ‘swiftly’Opens in new window ]
The British government is facing a significant rebellion among Labour MPs over the legacy legislation from former members of the British security forces living in their constituencies.
However, Northern Ireland Secretary of State Hilary Benn said London is determined to honour the joint framework agreement signed off on in September with Dublin, following more than a year of talks.
The legislation now back before the House of Commons includes comfort for former soldiers, police or others to give them the right to make statements without having to Northern Ireland, or to give evidence anonymously to an inquest.
“The reason that the protections are being put in place in the legislation is because we have a duty of care to our veterans as a government and we honour the service of all of those who served,” Mr Benn.
The legacy legislation featured prominently at a meeting of the British-Irish Inter-Governmental Conference in Farmleigh House in Dublin on Monday attended by Tánaiste Simon Harris, Mr Benn and the Minister for Justice, Mr O’Callaghan.
Exempting former soldiers from having to travel back to Northern Ireland is “a perfectly reasonable thing to do”, as is being able to claim anonymity before revamped inquisitorial legacy commission hearings, he went on.
Despite facing demands for security services-only protections by British veterans groups, Mr Benn said: “You can’t have a system where you provide one set of procedural considerations to some people, not others.
“But the absolutely clear reason for them is to treat our veterans fairly which we are absolutely committed to do and this Bill is fair and proportionate and reasonable. I look forward to it progressing in the House of Commons,” he said.
Meanwhile, the new Garda legacy unit agreed as part of an Anglo-Irish Troubles legacy deal will be created before the end of the year, but it will not investigate Troubles killings, t Mr O’Callaghan has declared.
Instead, the new Garda unit will be “a point of contact” with the revamped legacy body in Northern Ireland and will be able to share secret intelligence files with the Belfast-based body, the Minister declared.
“It will not be an investigative unit,” he said, “That wouldn’t be productive, and it wouldn’t be effective, because the expertise within the Garda Síochána in many instances would lie within the regions where the offences took place and where they would be investigated.”
