IRA Suspect Letters 'Shouldn't Have Been Sent'

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 24 Maret 2015 | 18.54

IRA Suspect Letters 'Shouldn't Have Been Sent'

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By David Blevins, Ireland Correspondent

The sending of "comfort letters" to alleged fugitives as part of the Northern Ireland peace process was "questionably unlawful", according to a Commons committee.

The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee concluded that the scheme "should never have been established and developed as it was and distorted the process of justice".

Members felt the Government's own inquiry should have been wider in remit and conducted in public, and so they set up their own investigation in parallel.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was summoned to appear, told them the peace process would "probably have collapsed" without the "on-the-runs" scheme.

But the Committee found: "It is questionable whether the scheme was lawful or not but its existence distorted the legal process."

Members called on the Government to "take all necessary steps, including legislation if necessary, to ensure the letters sent to 'on-the-runs' have no legal effect".

Laurence Robertson MP, chair of the committee, said: "Our priority is to serve the victims and their relatives, whom we believe to have been let down by HM Government by the way in which this scheme has operated.

"If any scheme had been put in place at all, which is questionable, it should have been properly introduced and correctly administered. It also should have been open and transparent. 

"This scheme was none of those things.

1/9

  1. Gallery: IRA Suspect Amnesties: Key Players

    Following the Good Friday Agreement and the release of 400 loyalist and republican paramilitary prisoners, the question about what to do with on-the-run IRA suspects, wanted for crimes before April 10, 1998, continued to needle the Tony Blair Government

In 2006, Mr Blair wrote to Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams telling him the Government was working on a solution for dealing with the suspects in question

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In 2007, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), under Chief Constable Hugh Orde, launched Operation Rapid, under which they reviewed the cases of terror suspects identified by Sinn Fein and recommended amnesty letters be sent out by the Northern Ireland Office

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It was under this process that 1982 Hyde Park bombing suspect John Downey was sent a letter in 2007. The letter should never have been sent because of a Metropolitan Police warrant for his arrest. The PSNI soon realised the mistake but no action was taken

]]>

Peter Hain, Northern Ireland Secretary until 2007, told the Old Bailey that an "administrative scheme" that had been a temporary measure for dealing with on-the-run suspects had become a formal measure

]]>
IRA Suspect Letters 'Shouldn't Have Been Sent'

We use cookies to give you the best experience. If you do nothing we'll assume that it's ok.

By David Blevins, Ireland Correspondent

The sending of "comfort letters" to alleged fugitives as part of the Northern Ireland peace process was "questionably unlawful", according to a Commons committee.

The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee concluded that the scheme "should never have been established and developed as it was and distorted the process of justice".

Members felt the Government's own inquiry should have been wider in remit and conducted in public, and so they set up their own investigation in parallel.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was summoned to appear, told them the peace process would "probably have collapsed" without the "on-the-runs" scheme.

But the Committee found: "It is questionable whether the scheme was lawful or not but its existence distorted the legal process."

Members called on the Government to "take all necessary steps, including legislation if necessary, to ensure the letters sent to 'on-the-runs' have no legal effect".

Laurence Robertson MP, chair of the committee, said: "Our priority is to serve the victims and their relatives, whom we believe to have been let down by HM Government by the way in which this scheme has operated.

"If any scheme had been put in place at all, which is questionable, it should have been properly introduced and correctly administered. It also should have been open and transparent. 

"This scheme was none of those things.

1/9

  1. Gallery: IRA Suspect Amnesties: Key Players

    Following the Good Friday Agreement and the release of 400 loyalist and republican paramilitary prisoners, the question about what to do with on-the-run IRA suspects, wanted for crimes before April 10, 1998, continued to needle the Tony Blair Government

In 2006, Mr Blair wrote to Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams telling him the Government was working on a solution for dealing with the suspects in question

]]>

In 2007, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), under Chief Constable Hugh Orde, launched Operation Rapid, under which they reviewed the cases of terror suspects identified by Sinn Fein and recommended amnesty letters be sent out by the Northern Ireland Office

]]>

It was under this process that 1982 Hyde Park bombing suspect John Downey was sent a letter in 2007. The letter should never have been sent because of a Metropolitan Police warrant for his arrest. The PSNI soon realised the mistake but no action was taken

]]>

Peter Hain, Northern Ireland Secretary until 2007, told the Old Bailey that an "administrative scheme" that had been a temporary measure for dealing with on-the-run suspects had become a formal measure

]]>

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