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No pause on Troubles bill, despite opposition

Parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Northern Ireland Office, Jonathan Caine has said he understands criticisms of the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill.

However, a "realistic assessment" had to be made on proposals of immunity from prosecution for perpetrators of crimes during the Troubles who co-operate with a truth-recovery body.

The bill will not be paused, he said.

'Not immune'

"I'm not immune to the feelings of those who've lost friends and loved ones to violence, to terrorism, and that's when I made the pledge that I wanted to try and improve the bill," he told the BBC.

"What we have to do is step back and make a realistic assessment. Twenty-five years after the agreement, 29 years after the ceasefires, over half a century since the Troubles began, what we can realistically deliver for people in circumstances where the prospects of prosecutions is going to be vanishingly rare."

The bill will have a third reading in the British House of Lords before proceeding to the final stages towards becoming law.

"One thing to be clear about is that we're not trying to pause, we're not pausing the bill," Caine said.

"It's coming before the House of Lords next week for its report stage on the 21st and then the 26th of this month, but I've taken a very long time over the bill.

"I first introduced it in July last year into the Lords and we didn't do a second reading until November.

Mr Caine said new processes will allow for information to be made public.

"I understand that many people have waited a long time for these inquests to start, to be granted, to get off the ground, and so on, which is one of the reasons why under our proposals, we want to try and get more answers, more information to people in a more timely manner than has been possible through the coronial inquest system," he said.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Tánaiste Micheál Martin have both expressed opposition to the legacy bill.

Caine said engagement was ongoing.

"We continue to talk to the Irish Government about these matters, and you'll be aware that the British-Irish intergovernmental conference is meeting in London next week," he said.

"I had meetings with the Department of Foreign Affairs a couple of weeks ago to discuss some of these issues.

He added that the British government would "encourage Dublin to work with a new body and alongside it and to cooperate".