Troubles legacy body won't be scrapped - NI secretary

Hilary Benn was speaking at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool

Calls to scrap the new commission investigating Troubles killings have been rejected by Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn.

Victims said a court ruling raised questions about the independence of the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) after judges found the government had too much veto power over what material investigators could release.

As a result, it concluded public confidence in the ICRIR could be undermined because the Northern Ireland secretary had the “final say” on disclosure of sensitive material.

That led to calls from some victims for the ICRIR to be scrapped.

Several victims’ groups have called for the the ICRIR to be scrapped

In his first interview since the judgement, Benn refused to say if the government planned to appeal the court ruling.

He said the judgement raised “complex questions” and it would take time to consider it.

But he warned that while he wanted to provide “maximum disclosure for families” he had to balance that with “national security”.

“You have obligations to people and you, of course, can’t do anything that is going to put somebody’s life at risk,” he added.

Defending the government’s decision to retain the ICRIR, Benn said it could not ditch the Troubles legacy legislation and then leave a "vacuum".

He said 85 families had already approached the ICRIR and it was working on eight cases.

Benn's interview came before he spoke at the Labour Party conference on Monday afternoon.

In his keynote address he paid tribute to the first and deputy first ministers for the "positive start" they had made since devolution was restored in February.

However Benn warned that the Stormont executive had to "live within its means" and address the many challenges it faced including long health service waiting lists, pressures in education and demands on the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

He said the UK government would support the executive as it sought to transform Northern Ireland's public services.

He said discussions would continue on a long-term fiscal framework

His party has faced criticism from some delegates for cutting winter fuel payments to pensioners.

Benn said the government had no choice given the state of the public finances left behind by the previous Conservative government.

Almost 250,000 pensioners in Northern Ireland will be affected by the cuts to the winter fuel payments.

“Being in government is about making difficult choices,” Benn said.

“If we don’t fix the fiscal foundations were are not going to make progress in the years ahead and that is why we had to take the decision”.

On Casement Park funding, after the government announced it would not provide money so the stadium could be built in time for Euro 2028, Benn said he was still waiting to see an alternative plan for the stadium.

The Gaelic Athletic Association insisted it still planned to build the 34,000 capacity stadium in west Belfast, which has been approved by planners.