Trimble labels Troubles compensation plan ‘offensive’
Plans for compensation payments to victims of the violence during the Troubles in Northern Ireland have been criticised.
The proposal by the Eames-Bradley Consultative Group on the Past has sparked controversy in the country as it also foresees payments of £12,000 to the families of those involved in paramilitary activities.
Former leader of the Ulster Unionist party David Trimble said offering financial compensation would be seen as “offensive” to the memory of victims.
Lord Trimble told the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “What the victims of the troubles want is first of all to be remembered and then secondly they want to feel that what they suffered was not in vain, that their sacrifice helped to build a better, more safer, more democratic future for people in Northern Ireland and to come forward first with money is offensive.”
However, he added that while payments to families of those linked with the violence would be controversial, a case could be made for families receiving compensation.
“The fact that a family member joined a paramilitary organisation and engaged in acts of terrorism and maybe was killed as a result of that – it is possible to look at the family members and say that they themselves were not engaged in terrorism,” he added.
Speaking to the BBC about the proposal, Northern Ireland’s first minister and leader of the Democratic Unionist Party Peter Robinson said it would not be in favour of a plan that put paramilitaries and victims on par.
He said: “The DUP has consistently opposed any equation between the perpetrator of crimes during the Troubles and the innocent victim.
“Terrorists died carrying out their evil and wicked deeds while innocent men, women and children were wiped out by merciless gangsters.”
The Eames-Bradley Consultative Group on the Past is expected to recommend the proposal on Wednesday.
