NI Conservatives’ co-chair, Trevor Ringland, has described Peter Hain as ‘absolutely shameless’, after the former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland defended a Labour government deal which allowed an IRA man suspected of the Hyde Park bombing to walk free without trial.
“A judge at the Old Bailey ruled that this letter to John Downey, effectively stating he was not a wanted man, prevents prosecution”, Trevor explained. “Now it transpires that a large number of similar letters were given to IRA members who were ‘on the run’, as part of a deal with Tony Blair’s Labour government. Not only has Peter Hain been shameless in defending this underhand arrangement; he also seems intent upon re-writing history to sustain his argument.”
“Legislation aimed at giving an amnesty to so-called ‘on the runs’ was introduced at Westminster in 2005 but was withdrawn, partly because of strong opposition from the Conservative Party and partly because Sinn Féin objected to the fact that it would cover members of the security forces. It seems that Labour scrapped a deal which was unacceptable - but was at least being debated openly in Parliament and treated perpetrators equally – to replace it with a deal which was unacceptable, but involved secret arrangements which only apply to IRA suspects.”
“Hain implies that this was a messy compromise required to stop violence in Northern Ireland, but he is rewriting history. By the late 1980s the IRA was going absolutely nowhere, due to the security services and abhorrence from the wider community. Certainly by 2007, when this letter was apparently issued, it had completely abandoned its campaign. He describes ‘on the runs’ as an anomaly, bearing in mind that paramilitary prisoners had been released following the Good Friday Agreement. The release of prisoners, while difficult and unpalatable, was at least done openly, after they had been held to account for their crimes, which is very different from people who haven’t yet stood trial, avoiding prosecution.”
“This episode raises huge questions about dealing with the past in Northern Ireland. Blatantly we cannot have a one-sided process, with the bloodiest offenders effectively exempt from justice. That is the goal of Sinn Féin, but it is no basis for stability in the future or a fair, trusted system of law. It is regrettable that the legal consequences of this letter have not been tested fully in the appeal courts. Now victims and the people of Northern Ireland deserve some honesty from Peter Hain about the number affected, the intention and the impact of Labour’s deal with the IRA.”