Beorn
02-25-2009, 06:05 PM
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00476/Michelle-Williamson_476739a.jpg
The Government has ruled out paying £12,000 to the families of all those killed in the Troubles.
The proposal, from a group set up to deal with the legacy of Northern Ireland's violent past, had been criticised because the payments were to have been made regardless of whether the dead were terrorists, members of the security forces or civilians.
Shaun Woodward, the Northern Ireland Secretary, said that there was not enough support for the payment "There isn't a consensus on it; it is an interesting idea, but very clearly the time is not right for a recognition payment," he told BBC Northern Ireland.
The proposal was one of 31 made by the Consultative Group on the Past, which was led by Lord Eames, the former head of the Church of Ireland, and Denis Bradley, a former Catholic priest.
Both men, who are due to appear before the House of Commons Northern Ireland Select Committee, said that their report was "more important than one recommendation". Mr Woodward agreed, saying that many of the other recommendations "really do bear looking at".
Other recommendations in the report include:
— the creation of a Legacy Commission to investigate many of the killings carried out during the Troubles;
— the creation of a Reconciliation Forum to tackle issues such as sectarianism and addiction; and
— an annual day of reflection and reconciliation.
The total cost of implementing all the proposals is estimated to be £300 million.
Mr Bradley welcomed Mr Woodward's broad support for the report. "I am very pleased that we had a very, very positive response from the Secretary of State in that he recognises that this [the report] is the way forward and he is putting his people to work on it and that is a very positive development," he said.
As for the recognition payment, he said: "People will come back to it in a few years time. The proposal may be inept... but this is an issue that every conflict in the world has to settle."
Peter Robinson, Northern Ireland’s First Minister and leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, welcomed the decision to drop the recognition payment. "It would have drawn no distinction whatsoever between murderers and the innocent people murdered during the Troubles," he said.
"The DUP made it clear to the Government that this proposal was unacceptable. Both the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State were left in no doubt that people in Northern Ireland would never accept this morally offensive idea."
Michelle Williamson, who lost her parents in 1993 when the Provisional IRA detonated a bomb inside a busy fishmongers in West Belfast, said: “I think it’s important that they now come up with a definition of what a victim is."
Source (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5803308.ece)
The Government has ruled out paying £12,000 to the families of all those killed in the Troubles.
The proposal, from a group set up to deal with the legacy of Northern Ireland's violent past, had been criticised because the payments were to have been made regardless of whether the dead were terrorists, members of the security forces or civilians.
Shaun Woodward, the Northern Ireland Secretary, said that there was not enough support for the payment "There isn't a consensus on it; it is an interesting idea, but very clearly the time is not right for a recognition payment," he told BBC Northern Ireland.
The proposal was one of 31 made by the Consultative Group on the Past, which was led by Lord Eames, the former head of the Church of Ireland, and Denis Bradley, a former Catholic priest.
Both men, who are due to appear before the House of Commons Northern Ireland Select Committee, said that their report was "more important than one recommendation". Mr Woodward agreed, saying that many of the other recommendations "really do bear looking at".
Other recommendations in the report include:
— the creation of a Legacy Commission to investigate many of the killings carried out during the Troubles;
— the creation of a Reconciliation Forum to tackle issues such as sectarianism and addiction; and
— an annual day of reflection and reconciliation.
The total cost of implementing all the proposals is estimated to be £300 million.
Mr Bradley welcomed Mr Woodward's broad support for the report. "I am very pleased that we had a very, very positive response from the Secretary of State in that he recognises that this [the report] is the way forward and he is putting his people to work on it and that is a very positive development," he said.
As for the recognition payment, he said: "People will come back to it in a few years time. The proposal may be inept... but this is an issue that every conflict in the world has to settle."
Peter Robinson, Northern Ireland’s First Minister and leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, welcomed the decision to drop the recognition payment. "It would have drawn no distinction whatsoever between murderers and the innocent people murdered during the Troubles," he said.
"The DUP made it clear to the Government that this proposal was unacceptable. Both the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State were left in no doubt that people in Northern Ireland would never accept this morally offensive idea."
Michelle Williamson, who lost her parents in 1993 when the Provisional IRA detonated a bomb inside a busy fishmongers in West Belfast, said: “I think it’s important that they now come up with a definition of what a victim is."
Source (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5803308.ece)