AQW 53970/11-16

Mr Stewart Dickson
Alliance Party
East Antrim

Tabled Date: 08/02/2016
Answered On Date: 12/02/2016
Priority Written: Yes

Question:
To ask the Minister of Justice for his assessment of the impact on his Department of the decision by the Northern Ireland Office not to make any further funding available for legacy investigations.

Answer:

I understand that the Northern Ireland Office will not release the funding for legacy investigations, agreed as part of the Stormont House Agreement, until the new legacy bodies are established. The justice system is not funded to undertake such work. Without additional funding, the PSNI would be reliant on diverting funding from other priorities to deal with legacy matters. Inevitably this will affect its capacity to respond to current policing challenges. Failure to provide the funds earmarked by the Treasury as long ago as December 2014 is simply punishing the Justice system for the failure of others.

The work my Department has been taking forward, in conjunction with the judiciary and the Police Service of Northern Ireland, to improve legacy inquests is not dependant on the new institutions. I therefore believe that the Northern Ireland Office should release funding to improve legacy inquests now. The issues of the past are the responsibility of the United Kingdom government and should be, funded through the Treasury, in line with the Stormont House Agreement.