Irish Tánaiste Micheál Martin said Wednesday Ireland will file an inter-state case alleging Britain violated European human rights with the Northern Ireland Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo
Dec. 20 (UPI) — The Irish government decided Wednesday to file an inter-state case against the British government arguing that provisions of the Northern Ireland Act 2023 violate the European Convention on Human Rights.
“The incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights into Northern Ireland law is a specific and fundamental requirement of the Good Friday Agreement,” said Irish Tánaiste Micheál Martin in a statement. “Since the UK legislation was first tabled, the government have been consistent that it is not compatible with the convention.”
The Tánaiste is Ireland’s deputy head of government, its second-highest office.
Martin said the British Northern Ireland Act 2023, known as the Legacy Act, triggered Irish concerns about “provisions which allow for the granting of immunity, and which shut down existing avenues to truth and justice for historic cases, including inquests, police investigations, Police Ombudsman investigations, and civil actions.”
The British Legacy Act seeks to end legal cases related to the violence in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles through the granting of immunity with the newly formed Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery.
Martin said the Legacy Act is opposed by people in Northern Ireland, especially by the victims and their families who welcomed the Irish government’s case.
In response, the British government said it “profoundly regrets” Ireland’s decision to bring forth what it called an “unnecessary case.”
“The UK Government urged the Irish Government, before considering action, to engage directly with the Commission to understand better its plans for the implementation of the legislation, particularly given that effective information recovery for many families will require cross-border cooperation,” Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Chris Heaton-Harris said in a statement.
“While this step is disappointing, it is one for which the UK Government was prepared,” he said, stating London will continue “robustly defend the legislation.”
However, British soldiers and their families support the new law.
Emmett McConomy’s then 11-year-old brother Stephen was killed by a plastic bullet fired by British troops in Derry in 1982.
“It’s heartwarming to know that the Irish Government has taken this forward, but it shouldn’t have to,” he said.
He added the British military should “never have been here in the first place, what the British government has done is disastrous for victims and survivors.”
Martin said reviews by the ICRIR “are not an adequate substitute for police investigations, carried out independently, adequately, and with sufficient participation of next of kin.”
And since the British government enacted the legislation there’s no chance of political resolution.
“We now find ourselves in a space where our only recourse is to pursue a legal path. It is important to leave the next steps to the Court,” Martin’s Wednesday statement said.
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