Colum Eastwood
MP for Foyle · Social Democratic & Labour Party · United Kingdom
“I am not sure that we know that the IRA did not keep records, but that is an aside. What we do know very well, given all that we have seen over the last number of years and the reports that have been done, is that the IRA and other terrorist organisations were riddled from top to bottom with informers reporting directly to the British sta…”
House of Commons20 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am very grateful for the hon. Gentleman’s kind words. I just want to make sure that I understood him; he said that inquests have not dealt with innocent civilians being killed.”
House of Commons20 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“There are cases right now of dead children where the families still have not got access to their files and will not for many years. We have issues with some of the provisions. We have issues with the national security veto, which has been used many times before. It is a national embarrassment and should not be used again.”
House of Commons19 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“They had good experiences and bad experiences with some of the people they met. Patsy Gillespie’s daughter Jennifer was among them. A braver family you could not meet.”
House of Commons19 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Next week, we will have to go to the Supreme Court, because this Government are appealing the judgment that mandates this Government to bring about a public inquiry. I appeal to the Government today to take the opportunity to listen to what Bridie Brown has had to go through.”
House of Commons19 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Should those people not be entitled to the same level of justice, if it can be achieved, as any other citizen in the United Kingdom? I do not understand the argument against it.”
House of Commons19 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
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“This Bill is a very welcome development. It is not the Irish language Act that we would have liked to see, but it is an important step on the way to recognising that the Irish language is a key part of the identity of many people in our community, and that has to be recognised in law. I am also sorrowful that this was not done in the place where it should have been done. People should be there at work in Stormont, doing the work that they were elected to do, and I am sorrowful that we could not do this in the Northern Ireland Assembly. It is a terrible shame that we have had to wait for decades even to get to this point, and maybe there is a lesson in that. If we keep dragging out these issues, if we keep denying our respect for each other’s diversity, we will keep having to come back to do it this way, which is shameful.”
House of Commons26 October 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am glad to see the Secretary of State implementing these key parts of New Decade, New Approach. Of course, other commitments within that agreement could not be delivered even when we had an Executive. There was a key commitment for 10,000 students at Magee University in Derry. The right hon. Member for Skipton and Ripon (Julian Smith) agreed that we could have a medical school at Magee, which has now been delivered, but the real prize is a full-scale university for the people of Derry. Will the Secretary of State commit to getting that done?”
House of Commons12 October 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I know how difficult it is to lose your hero, but there is comfort in the lasting legacy that she will leave, having helped shape our common history. The story of our peoples is fundamentally and inseparably intertwined. We all live in each other’s shadow. I hope that we continue to build on the legacy that Queen Elizabeth II helped forge. May she rest in peace.”
House of Commons9 September 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I believe that her visit to the garden of remembrance in Dublin, and the way she stretched herself to be an example of a good neighbour to Ireland in those moments, contributed in a very significant way to healing the wounds of our past. Those cúpla focal, those few words of Irish—“A Uachtaráin agus a chairde”; “President and friends”—were a symbolic embrace of the Irish people, and they were deeply appreciated. The blessing of a long life does not make the burden of saying goodbye any lighter. My sincerest condolences are with the Queen’s immediate family, with right hon. and hon. Members here today, and most particularly with those in Northern Ireland for whom she held a cherished place in their lives and their hearts.”
House of Commons9 September 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“As a leader of Irish nationalism, I want to place on the record my deep appreciation and respect for the Queen’s role in forging new bonds of friendship between our islands and our people. It is all so easy to forget now, but she was also a victim of the conflict that the people of these islands were subjected to for 40 long years. I know that the murder of her cousin, Lord Mountbatten, in Mullaghmore in August 1979 had a profound effect on her and her extended family. She experienced the sharp pain of loss, but in common with the people of Ireland, she took risks for peace and played an enormous role in reconciling the traditions that share our islands. At no time was that more visible than during Queen Elizabeth’s 2011 visit to Ireland.”
House of Commons9 September 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“During that time, she forged a legacy that will outlast all of us here. I hope it lays the foundation for enduring relations between these islands, in spite of the challenges that we now face. As leader of the Social Democratic and Labour party, I had cause to meet Queen Elizabeth on a number of occasions. Believe me when I say that it is difficult to think of two people more divorced from each other in background and aspiration, but I can only recount that in any dealings that I had with her, I found her a person of great warmth, character and enduring passion for the interests and needs of people. That, I think, is the reason for the longevity of her support from the British people.”
House of Commons9 September 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The warm tributes that have already been paid to Queen Elizabeth II by hon. and right hon. Members tell their own story about the great respect and deep affection that so many from such diverse and different backgrounds had for her—an affection and respect that transcend mere political difference and speak to her position as a leader and an example of public service. As others have said, the Queen was one of the most consequential civic figures of the last century. As political leaders came and went, and as public opinion ebbed and flowed, she remained a constant—an unyielding and limitless source of strength and comfort for her people in times of national pride and sorrow. Her reign, which lasted more than 70 years, spanned the embers of conflict that followed the second world war and the peace process between our islands and peoples.”
House of Commons9 September 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Prime Minister should know by now that many people in the north of Ireland are starving and freezing in their homes. We need a tailored solution for Northern Ireland, but that is much harder to achieve because the Democratic Unionist party is refusing to form a Government at Stormont. The new Prime Minister has a choice to make: she can either be on the side of the DUP or on the side of struggling people in Northern Ireland. So whose side is she on?”
House of Commons7 September 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Despite what the right hon. Member has been saying, I am very grateful to him for giving way. I know that he is a new convert to supporting the Good Friday agreement; in fact, he left the talks before they were concluded and then opposed the Good Friday agreement from the outset. That is fine—that is his right—but I wonder whether he can explain what version of Brexit can get this mythical cross-community consensus. The word “consensus”, in that sense, is not in the Good Friday agreement.”
House of Commons20 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I promise to be brief, because we have heard a lot over the last number of days and we have heard a lot repeated as well. The Bill clearly and blatantly breaks international law. It breaks an agreement that the Government made with the European Union and that was trumpeted to the electorate as a fantastic deal. I think the Bill will end up going the same way as the Prime Minister.”
House of Commons20 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“We will not be able to do that if we stay out of Government for months upon months upon months, because that is how long it will take for this Bill to get Royal Assent. That is my appeal to the DUP. I make this appeal to the Government: there is no option to unilaterally rip up an agreement. The only way that we can do these sensitive, difficult things is to sit down with our partners and negotiate. I met Lord Frost many, many times when he was in that position. I did not get the sense that he was a man determined to find accommodation and compromise. Whatever things may look like in September, I appeal to the Government to sit down with the European Union and stop using Northern Ireland as a political football.”
House of Commons20 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Will the DUP now take the opportunity to go back into Stormont to live up to their responsibilities as democratically elected leaders in Northern Ireland and do the job that people are crying out for them to do? If they do not do so, the SDLP will put a recall motion into the Northern Ireland Assembly tonight, asking them to come back in to nominate a Speaker and to nominate a Deputy First Minister, who I hope will be the right hon. Member for Lagan Valley (Sir Jeffrey M. Donaldson). Despite all the talk about the Good Friday agreement, we have to get back to working together, to working the common ground, to dealing with the issues in our health service, in our economy and in all those issues that people say they care about.”
House of Commons20 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I fully respect—by the way—the principle of consent, and it was my predecessor who made sure that it was in the Good Friday agreement. The constitutional position of Northern Ireland, whatever anybody says and however much I want to change it, cannot be changed until the people of Northern Ireland and the people of the Republic of Ireland vote to change it. To say anything else is just not true. I wish to end my remarks with an ask of the DUP. We have been told over the past number of months that the Northern Ireland Assembly cannot meet unless this piece of legislation goes through. Well, this piece of legislation is just about to go through the House of Commons.”
House of Commons20 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Things got gone and things got voted on, but majorities made decisions. The reality for all those people who say they care about the people of Northern Ireland is that the people of Northern Ireland do not want this Bill. Their elected representatives do not want this Bill. The representatives of the business groups we have been told so much about do not want this Bill. Anybody with any sense knows that this is a blatant breaking of international law. We have also heard an awful lot about the Union. I think that some people in this place, who have talked a lot about the Union but have acted in a certain way around this Brexit farce since 2016, will come to regret it. There will be statues erected in the new Ireland to Boris Johnson and some of the Members of the DUP, because that is the road that they have taken us down.”
House of Commons20 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I will not. Sit down! This Bill is a sop to the DUP and a campaigning tool for the Foreign Secretary in the Conservative party leadership election. If it is driven through, the only likely outcome is a trade dispute with the European Union. Well, good luck to the next Prime Minister if they want to go into the general election with prices going even higher than they already are. I have heard a lot from some interesting people about the Good Friday agreement. I have always supported the Good Friday agreement, and I am delighted that so many people support it now. However, there is a nonsense at the heart of the argument that the Good Friday agreement is based on consensus. It is not; that is not possible. I sat in the Northern Ireland Assembly for almost nine years, and there was very little consensus in that place.”
House of Commons20 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am grateful to the hon. Member for giving way. Does he agree with me and with Mike Johnston, the chief executive of the Dairy Council for Northern Ireland, that the Bill risks making rural areas poorer by cutting off £600 million of trade?”
House of Commons19 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“If the right hon. Member agrees that the North South Ministerial Council would be a good forum for discussing some of these issues, maybe he would allow it to meet.”
House of Commons19 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The right hon. Member makes an interesting point, and I think he is right when he says that it is not just the practicalities of trade that are damaging confidence within the Unionist population, but does he believe that this will be enough to keep those people who are out on the streets happy? There will still be checks, and that constitutional issue that he has will not go away as a result of this Bill.”
House of Commons19 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The right hon. Member has stated that the Union is at risk because of the protocol. I know that he is no big supporter of the Good Friday agreement, but does he not accept that very clearly written into that agreement is the principle of consent? That basically means that, no matter how much I want it, we cannot change the constitutional position of Northern Ireland until the people of Northern Ireland and the people of the Republic of Ireland vote for it.”
House of Commons13 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“On the point about consent—we did get slightly distracted—I totally and absolutely disagree with the right hon. Gentleman and Lord Trimble on how they say consent works. It is not an elastic principle; it is about one thing, the constitutional position of Northern Ireland. If it is elastic, however, does it apply to Brexit, since that was a constitutional rupture for the people of Northern Ireland, and the people of Northern Ireland voted against it? If it applies to the protocol, why does it not apply to Brexit?”
House of Commons13 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Maybe I misheard the hon. Gentleman, but I think he referred to Congressman Richie Neal, who chairs the Ways and Means Committee in the United States—somebody who would be very important in the discussion around a trade agreement between the United Kingdom and the United States. I just want to clear up this point, because it is important to get it on the record: was the hon. Gentleman stating that Congressman Neal was raising money for people to be bombed in Ireland? That sounded very much like what he said, and it is absolutely outrageous if that is what he said. Richie Neal has been a very strong advocate for and supporter of the peace process in Capitol Hill.”
House of Commons13 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am grateful. The Minister mentions that the Irish Government made commitments. I absolutely agree that they need to deliver on those commitments, but they were made in the context of the Stormont House agreement. The British Government made commitments as well, but they are now moving miles and miles away from the Stormont House agreement, stopping any opportunity for people to get access to truth and justice, despite what the Minister might say.”
House of Commons4 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“It is worth pointing out that we have two days for what is supposed to be the Committee stage, and this is fundamental legislation that needs to be scrutinised. Does the Minister recognise that one of the key victories of the civil rights movement was getting rid of the Special Powers Act? The Act was introduced in 1922, and the architects of apartheid in South Africa looked upon it jealously and stated as much. One of the things they did was to close down access to inquests, but they did not go as far as this Bill, which this Government are just about to introduce in 2022. How in God’s name can that be right?”
House of Commons4 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“At every single turn, the British Government have tried to stop information getting into the hands of the people trying to find out the truth, including victims, who were told that they were at the very centre of this legislation. I have made this point a number of times now: there is a reason we do not trust you. Why not support our new clause 6, which would put on the face of the Bill that this information should be released to the public?”
House of Commons4 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Let me take this opportunity to make it very clear that every single murder and every single crime that occurred during the troubles was absolutely and totally wrong—I do not care who did it—and that every single bit of truth, accountability and justice possible should be got at. Every single paramilitary organisation should be coming forward with information, but we know that there is lots of information on those paramilitary organisations, because the British Government have infiltrated them—and still infiltrate them—to the very highest levels. We all know that. The information is sitting in the files of the British Government. As my friend the hon. Member for Rochdale (Tony Lloyd), says, the reason that we do not trust the British Government is this: Julie Livingstone, Paul Whitters, the Bloody Sunday inquiry, the Ballymurphy inquest.”
House of Commons4 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“That is why removing the investigation and removing at least the possibility of criminal proceedings is also, in our strong view, removing the opportunity for many families to get any truth.”
House of Commons4 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am very grateful to the hon. Member; we are becoming good friends here now. I agree with him on the issue of homogeneous views. Of course, it is absolutely right that many families internally—within those families—have different views. I have not met too many who do not want to seek truth. I suppose the experience that we have, having dealt with so many of these cases—and the experience of Kenova, which he talks about—is that unless we properly investigate, put people under the cosh and do it properly, we are not going to get to the truth. I think in nearly every family’s experience, whether from a paramilitary organisation or the Government, truth does not come knocking at their door. It does not come willingly—it just does not happen—unless they are put under pressure.”
House of Commons4 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The hon. Gentleman has forwarded the argument about collusion a number of times, and I totally agree that we need the whole picture. If I accept that, will he accept that there are now very few people left who do not agree that there were collusive practices, that collusion was a thing, and that people who were being paid by the state murdered people in Northern Ireland? That is the whole point of the Kenova investigation.”
House of Commons4 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“We have countless examples of where victims have used JR in civil cases to get a better result than they got from the Governments who are supposed to represent them.”
House of Commons4 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I very much welcome what the hon. Gentleman is saying, particularly on judicial reviews and civil actions. I think he would agree that it is particularly egregious that the Government are seeking to close down the civil route for victims. The deadline for putting in new civil cases was the day the Bill was announced and published. For me, that was particularly difficult to take. Does he remember the example of when Michelle O’Neill, who was Deputy First Minister at the time, stopped and held up the opportunity for victims to get access to the victims’ pension? It was actually the judicial review process that got that position overturned and now, finally, victims have the opportunity to avail themselves of that.”
House of Commons4 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The hon. Member is making an important speech. I wonder whether he has heard that the Council of Europe commissioner for human rights has today said that the Bill “raises serious questions about the extent to which the proposed mechanism…is compliant with ECHR standards on independent and effective investigations. The possibility to grant immunity…on a low evidentiary bar raises concerns that this could lead to impunity.””
House of Commons4 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I, for one, will never support immunity for the soldier who murdered 12-year-old Majella O’Hare—shot her on her way to chapel. Equally, I will never support immunity for the IRA team who blew up Patsy Gillespie and killed five soldiers in the city of Derry in the early ’90s. That is what we are doing. Somebody has to tell people what is happening. The way this Government have voted today has given a licence for impunity for what happened in our part of the world over many decades. If anybody really believes that this legislation will bring about truth or reconciliation, they are lying to themselves and to the victims out there, who are deeply, deeply disappointed and dismayed today. I will absolutely vote against Third Reading.”
House of Commons4 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“While a few MPs have had to sit through a few hours of debate about this issue, many victims have had to sit through decades of trying to comfort their loved ones after what happened to them. Only last week, we saw victims in Derry achieving a modicum of truth through the inquest process. That victim, Kathleen Thompson—a mother of six—was murdered in 1971. Those victims and families got some truth last week through the current system, as imperfect as it is. What we are doing today is utterly shameful. It is a whitewash on a grand scale. It is an opportunity for impunity and would not be allowed to stand in any other part of the United Kingdom. It says an awful lot about the state of this state that we are quietly and coldly walking through the Lobbies to bring this about today.”
House of Commons4 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Minister says that he wants to put victims at the centre, that he wants to provide information and transparency, and all that. There were a number of victims on the estate last night. They were families of people—of children, actually—who were murdered during the conflict. One of those children was Julie Livingstone. She was 14 years old in Lenadoon in west Belfast in 1981, and she was shot by the British Army and killed. Her file has been closed until 2064. How can Julie Livingstone’s family believe this Government when they say they want to give accountability, truth and transparency?”
House of Commons29 June 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“People have been shifted around our country to rape whoever they want under the protection of the IRA and other organisations.”
House of Commons29 June 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am grateful to the Minister for giving that commitment, but I think he understands very well what we are talking about. We do not need to theorise. We know of individual cases in which members of paramilitary organisations raped members of our community; the rape was investigated by paramilitary organisations and covered up; the victim was victimised further, abused and hounded out of their own community—and what happened then? The perpetrators were moved to other parts of Ireland to work within the community. These are high-profile cases, which the Minister knows about and which would not have happened in the same way in Liverpool or Manchester. Paramilitary organisations exist in our communities and they coerce and control communities.”
House of Commons29 June 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I just ask the Minister to guarantee that. Many people are very concerned that this Bill may pass through these Houses of Parliament but will not stand the test of time when it comes to the courts, because some of us believe it is fundamentally illegal, never mind unjust. Will he give a guarantee that whatever happens in terms of disclosure—we can debate that all day—evidence will not be destroyed after that process is over? Will he guarantee that evidence will be maintained and retained?”
House of Commons29 June 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“We have heard already that many of these events were a long time ago. Well, in August 1971 Kathleen Thompson, a mother of six, was shot by the British Army. Today, in 2022, they finally got the result of an inquest that proved that that shooting was unjustified. Under these proposals, no other family would be entitled to get that truth and justice—it would be barred. They would not get access to the inquest process. Whatever people may say about things being a long time ago, we have a case today proving that inquests work, that they get truth for families and that families who have had to suffer and argue and debate and campaign for 50 years can get at least some truth out of this process. This Government want to bar that. Does the hon. Gentleman recognise that?”
House of Commons29 June 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“A lot has been said today about closure. The Government have said that they have engaged and listened—I think that was the word—to victims. I know that the shadow Secretary of State has engaged with victims, as have all of us on this side. Can he tell us if he has met any victim who has told him that they support the Bill or that it will give them closure?”
House of Commons29 June 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“It is lovely to hear all this agreement. In my view, the pressure is on the Government. It has been made very clear to us—the hon. Member for Belfast East (Gavin Robinson) drew this out—that it is very unlikely that we will even get a Report stage. We have an amendment on the Order Paper. Members should be forced to vote for it.”
House of Commons29 June 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Can I take the hon. Gentleman back to what he was saying a little bit earlier? We obviously disagree on the Good Friday agreement and the need for prisoner release, but I think we both recognise that those prisoners were released on licence. A licence is capable of being revoked and has been on a number of occasions. If this Bill went through, would that get rid of that, so that those prisoners would then be totally immune from going back even on licence?”
House of Commons29 June 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“In some cases convictions are possible, but in many they are not. But the very process of actually investigating, and having civil cases—that is what gets someone to the truth, and that is what the Bill will bar. That is the real problem behind our issue with the Bill, and the issue that every victims’ group I have met has with it.”
House of Commons29 June 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am grateful to the hon. Member for giving way. I think he and I are two of the people who have some of these feisty exchanges that he talks about, and I will attempt not to be too feisty with him today. He has made it clear that he believes that there is no prospect of criminal convictions, and that those on this side of the Committee are appalled because people will get away with terrible crimes. Yes, that is one thing. The other thing is that we do not believe the Bill will provide more truth or more transparency. We recognise that. By the way, we are very open with victims and all that, but we do not have to be because they are grown-ups. They have been doing this for a lot longer than any of us. They know the process, they know how difficult it is, and they would love convictions.”
House of Commons29 June 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The hit series “ Derry Girls”, which is of course based in my constituency, has met with rave reviews all around the world, and has been instrumental in educating people on the Good Friday agreement and the principles that underpin it—a few people in the House of Commons could do with watching the last series. Does the Secretary of State agree with me, and with the creator and writer of “Derry Girls”, Lisa McGee, that it would have been impossible for her to get that programme made without Channel 4?”
House of Commons14 June 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“We have heard reports today that the Prime Minister refused to consult the First Treasury Counsel on his plans to rip up the protocol. This question might be a bit redundant, as the Prime Minister might not be around for very much longer, but given his record of casual lawbreaking, will he give a commitment to the people of Northern Ireland that he will not break international law any time soon?”
House of Commons8 June 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I cannot believe that they are still saying that today, given the number of times the police ombudsman has uncovered the fact that there has been collusion in Northern Ireland between the state and paramilitary organisations.”
House of Commons24 May 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Alyson Kilpatrick, the chief human rights commissioner in Northern Ireland, said: “we are sure that this Bill is substantially, in fact almost certainly fatally, flawed.” This is an overt attempt to close down access to truth and justice for the victims of our conflict. It rips up the Stormont House agreement—an agreement that people have bought into—and it does not have the support of the parties in Northern Ireland. It has absolutely no support from victims’ groups in Northern Ireland: many have told us in the past few days that they will boycott the processes if they become law. Others have said that there is no such thing as collusion.”
House of Commons24 May 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The idea that this legislation will bring truth to families is absolute nonsense. The pretence from this Government that the legislation is about victims or reconciliation is frankly an out and out lie. This is about politics and a manifesto commitment—about protecting the state, as it always is. It will protect every single perpetrator who committed those crimes in Northern Ireland. I cannot find anybody, apart from Government Members, who believe that this legislation is the way forward. The Queen’s University law school’s model Bill team describe it as unworkable and as breaching international law.”
House of Commons24 May 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Two years later, my brother Bernard, with a mental age of nine, was killed by the IRA. We want no amnesty for anyone.” The Ballymurphy families would never have seen the truth that the world got to see about what happened in Ballymurphy if these proposals had been brought in before the result of that inquest. We hear that the new system will provide truth for people. Well, Columba McVeigh was 17, from Donaghmore, County Tyrone. He was abducted and killed by the IRA and his body was disappeared. His body has still not been found, despite the fact that the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains allows for immunity in these cases. It would have allowed for the IRA to come forward and tell Columba’s family exactly where the body was buried. They have not done that—that is the point.”
House of Commons24 May 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The IRA abducted Patsy Gillespie from his house, leaving his wife Kathleen and his family at home. Patsy worked in a British Army base. He was chained to a van full of explosives and forced to drive into that army base on the Buncrana Road in Derry. Patsy was killed along with five British soldiers. The people who carried that out will be freed from any concern as a result of this legislation. I also wonder about the Ballymurphy families. In August 1971, 11 people were killed by the British Army—by the Parachute Regiment, again. Daniel Teggart was one of the victims. His daughter is called Alice Harper. This is what she had to say recently: “We identified my daddy by his curly hair. Fourteen times they shot him. The next day they blackened his name and called him a gunman.”
House of Commons24 May 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗