Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick said that he and other representatives stood ready to ”hold Britain’s feet to the fire” to make the new Labour government keep its promise to “repeal and replace” the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act.
The Pennsylvania Republican spoke during a live webinar broadcast on Saturday October 12 after hearing victims’ sister Pola Cairns, civil rights lawyer Padraig O’Murigh, Relatives for Justice CEO Mark Thompson, and a representative to the Irish parliament Peadar Tobin.
Instead of repealing the act, Keir Starmer’s Labour government now plans to retain the Independent Commission on Reconciliation and Information Retrieval (ICRIR) created by the Tories.
During the webinar, and according to a release, Pola Cairns gave a heartbreaking account of how her family celebrated her sister Roisin’s 11th birthday on October 30, 1993, just before her brothers Gerard (22) and Rory (18) were gunned down by Mid-Ulster Ulster Volunteer Force loyalists.
The killers wore masks. Roisin thought it was neighbors playing a Halloween prank. Gerard and Rory were targets because they played Gaelic Football and were Irish language enthusiasts.
Added the release: "The family immediately recognized clear signs of crown force collusion in the murders. She said the area had been 'swamped with RUC Land rovers and UDR patrols. Neighbors had been stopped but that was to let the murder gang carry out killings and then get away.' The RUC investigation was closed within weeks. Evidence was destroyed and witness interviews not recorded as part of the cover-up.
"The Cairns family got little information from the Ombudsman or Historical Enquiries Team, but BBC television investigators identified several men involved as RUC special branch and/or British intelligence agents, and even discovered an earlier attempt to murder the young men."
Pola Cairns told the webinar that the families of victims “had a massive distrust of the ICRIR because of the appointment of a former Assistant Chief Constable Peter Sheridan as its Chief Investigator.”
Solicitor Padraig O’Muirigh, described how much getting legacy truth meant to victims’ families in cases like the Ballymurphy Massacre Inquest where ten people, including a Catholic priest, and a grandmother were vindicated after fifty years.
Those families traveled home to cheers in a triumphal cavalcade after the judgement. Relatives were guests on one of Ireland’s most popular programs, RTE's Late Late Show, because of interest in the case throughout Ireland.
On the very day the Ballymurphy Massacre judgement was given, the British government formally announced plans for the new legacy bill, which would create the ICRIR Commission. Mr. O’Muirigh says “the Commission was designed to take an independent judiciary and effective legal representatives out of the equation.”
The Court of Appeals in Belfast, according to the webinar release, has ruled that the ICRIR denied the right of next of kin to have legal representatives, getting discovery and questioning witnesses at hearings conducted in public by an independent judge. Mr. O’Muirigh cited the example of Fr. Hugh Mullan whose killing by British soldiers in Ballymurphy had been ruled justified because witnesses said the priest was putting a rifle under his cassock. Autopsy photos showed Fr. Mullan was not even wearing a cassock when killed and exonerated him.
The solicitor said the appointment of former Assistant Chief Constable Peter Sheridan, as Chief Investigator for the ICRIR, was a disaster because of the perception of families that he could not be impartial on RUC collusion.
Peadar Tobin TD, leader of Aontu and a member of the Joint Committee for the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, called the British legacy act “the son and heir of collusion and cover-up.” He said Britain is “becoming a rogue state on legacy.” The Labour Party had promised to repeal the act in the run-up to the election but was clearly retreating from that pledge.
He had posed a series of formal questions in the Dáil to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin, in order to monitor the Irish government’s case against Britain in the European Court.
The Dáil representative said that at one time the Irish government seemed to regard legacy justice as an issue for Britain and the North, but through campaigns by victims’ relatives, Dáil members, civil rights groups and Irish America, the Irish government was fully committed. He commended Taoiseach Simon Harris for raising the legacy issue with President Biden during his recent visit to Washington.
Mark Thompson, of Relatives for Justice, said that the ICRIR Commission had received only eight applications for thousands of unsolved legacy killings. He termed this lack of applications “a vote of no confidence by families who recognize that the ICRIR Commission was about burying the truth.”
Thompson noted the “British Secretary of State has a total veto over the legacy justice” and families feel that this veto would be heavily influenced by the British agencies who ran agents and oversaw collusion.
Mr. Thompson said the British seemed more concerned with the money spent on the ICRIR than on the rights of victims’ relatives, but with the support of the AOH and Irish America families would get justice.
Congressman Fitzpatrick said that he and other Congress members were prepared “to call Britain out on legacy.” In July, 24 Congress members had co-signed a letter to new Prime Minister Keir Starmer, congratulating him on his election and noting his promise to repeal and replace the legacy act.
Fitzpatrick said that he and a bipartisan group of representatives stand ready to meet with British officials and say “you made a commitment, now keep your promise!”
Viewers of the broadcast, hosted by the Ancient Order of Hibernians, included leading members of other Irish American organizations and prominent human rights activists from the North, including Grainne Teggart of Amnesty International, Declan Owens of Rights and Security International ,and John Teggart of the Ballymurphy Massacre Families.
It was the first Legacy Webinar led by Sean Pender as new National AOH President. He thanked each of the panelists and noted that this program was just one part of the ongoing efforts by the AOH to support victims’ families in their fight for justice.
Martin Galvin, who moderated the panel discussion, noted that Sean Pender had sent AOH resolutions on Legacy to the British and Irish governments and had just led a three member delegation to an Irish government event which raised the legacy issue with Minister Micheál Martin.
