Ireland will consider taking interstate case if UK legacy Bill passed – Varadkar

Gráinne Ní Aodha (PA)

Irish premier Leo Varadkar has restated that Ireland will consider taking an interstate case if the UK government’s controversial legacy Bill is passed.

The legacy Bill proposes an effective offer of immunity from prosecution for perpetrators of crimes during the Troubles who co-operate with a truth-recovery body.

Victims groups, human rights experts, Amnesty International and all political parties in Northern Ireland are opposed to the Bill.

The legislation is set to return to the House of Lords on Wednesday.

Raising the issue in the Dail, Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said that if it passed the Lords stage, it would “definitively shut the door on families’ efforts to achieve truth and justice through the courts, and it will of course give an amnesty to those responsible for their deaths”.

Asked what action Ireland intended to take, the Taoiseach responded: “The Bill has not yet been enacted, and certainly if it is enacted, if it does become law, we will then at that point give consideration to whether an interstate case is appropriate, so we certainly don’t rule that out.

“But I would encourage everyone to play their part when it comes to legacy issues, we all have a role to play.”

He told TDs: “I just want to reiterate and restate the government’s opposition to this legacy Bill.

“We think it’s entirely the wrong approach to give former army servicemen, former IRA and paramilitary terrorists immunity from prosecution.

“We owe it to the victims to make sure that we all do everything we can to make sure that any information that can be given to the police is given to the police and that those people are prosecuted if at all possible.

“And that’s why we’re very much against this legacy Bill and I’ve made that very clear to the Prime Minister, as has the Tanaiste (Micheal Martin) with his counterparts.

“It’s been discussed with the US president, and is discussed at European level as well.”