Northern Ireland Legacy Bill: Lady Nuala O'Loan calls on ministers to delay controversial legislation until NI Assembly reforms

As peers were due to start their detailed line-by-line scrutiny of the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill, independent crossbencher Baroness O’Loan has launched a bid to halt its passage until approval is secured from Stormont.

However, the Northern Ireland Assembly is currently not sitting because of the political impasse over post-Brexit trading arrangements, which have created economic barriers with the British mainland.

Many unionists are vehemently opposed to Northern Ireland Protocol, which they claim has weakened the region’s place within the union.

The DUP has been blocking powersharing at Stormont in protest and is demanding major changes to the deal.

Lady O’Loan, who served as Northern Ireland’s first Police Ombudsman, has proposed an amendment at the legacy Bill’s committee stage that it not be given a third reading in the Lords until the assembly has agreed a legislative consent motion. Critics have denounced the proposed law as offering an “amnesty” for killers and the Bill is opposed by all Stormont’s main parties and the Irish Government, as well as victims’ groups in Northern Ireland.

The legislation would provide immunity for people accused of Troubles offences, as long as they co-operate with a new truth recovery body, and would also halt future civil cases and inquests linked to killings during the conflict.

In the face of strong opposition, the UK Government has proposed several amendments to the Bill, though the main elements of it remain.

In an emotional speech during the second reading debate last year, Lady O’Loan recalled losing her unborn baby after surviving an IRA bomb in 1977.

She said at the time that “the legacy of the Troubles lives on in all our hearts”, before going on to criticise the Bill.

Lady O’Loan told the upper chamber the legacy Bill had been “rejected by virtually everyone”.

Referring to the Troubles, she said: “People died, lives were wrecked hearts were broken.

“Now in this Bill, Government proposes to remove the obligations which exist in law – domestic and international – and to deprive victims and survivors a proper investigation in the fullest sense and of any meaningful reconcilation.

“The Bill will also remove the right to bring civil actions for damages for injury and death resulting from the Troubles. Such actions have been citical in uncovering the truth about deaths and serious harm to people caused by terrorists,some of whom were state informants working with paramilitary groups such as the IRA and UVF.”

She added: “This Bill has been rejected by virtually everyone. The assembly has not had the opportunity to comment on its content. It comprises multiple breaches of the UK’s obligations undr domestic and international law.

“It does not have the consent of the people affected by its provisions – those whose loved ones died or were seriously injured in places like London and Birmingham and Manchester and Hyde Park and Warrenpoint and Enniskillen and so many other places. It will deprive the UK of its reputation as a state in which the rule of law is respected and upheld.”

The former Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, Lord Eames, warned the proposed law would deny many justice in the region.

He said: “I have never, never come across such widespread opposition to a proposal such as this.

The independent crossbencher added: “There are so many people in Northern Ireland who are going to be denied justice. Denied the opportunity to be heard.“I see this as nothing less than a tragedy.” Urging minister4s to “think again”, Former deputy DUP leader Lord Dodds of Duncairn said: “It’s very, very clear that victims have been treated abominably by this Bill and this Government.

“That’s a terrible thing to have to say about a Government which is committed to the union. Although its actions in recent times both on the protocol and on this would cause many unionists to doubt what exactly is now going on with the Conservative and Unionist Party.

“At the centre there is something deeply and fundamentally wrong with how Northern Ireland is now being treated as part of this United Kingdom.

“And this is one of the most egregious examples. Where victims and their views are being set aside, where there is universal opposition and yet this Government is intent on proceeding. I would appeal – listen to the victims.”

Ealier today, relatives whose loved ones were killed in Northern Ireland’s Troubles staged a protest in Belfast ahead of the latest debate on controversial legislation to deal with the past.

They gathered outside the Northern Ireland Office in the city centre on Tuesday afternoon urging that the Legacy Bill be scrapped.

The proposed legislation would see an effective amnesty offered for Troubles crimes in exchange for cooperation with a new truth retrieval body.

It would also halt future civil cases and inquests linked to killings during the conflict.

The Government has proposed several amendments to the Bill as it proceeds through its legislative stages, though the core elements of it remain.

Sinn Fein MP John Finucane accused the UK government of ignoring victims and said the proposed legislation “runs contrary to international law and human rights obligations”.

Mr Finucane, whose father Pat was killed by loyalist paramilitaries in 1989, said the legislation is unamendable.

“That’s not just my view, it is the view of many human rights and legal practitioners, academics, human rights organisations and the Irish government,” he said.