Troubles pension: 'Pay pension now' victims advocate tells MPs

In the past Victims Commissioner Judith Thompson has called the delay the "ultimate insult"

The Victims' Commissioner has said she accepts the "political decision" that people injured at their own hand should be excluded from a Troubles Pension.

The commissioner, Judith Thompson, was speaking before the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee on Wednesday.

She called for the stalled pension payment scheme to be implemented immediately.

Ms Thompson said it "can't be held up by a small number of people who may or may not get it".

MPs also heard from the widow of a former UDR man murdered by the IRA and the brother of an 11-year-old boy shot dead by a soldier with a plastic bullet in Derry.

Asked about the political deadlock at Stormont, which is holding up the pension payment scheme, the victims' commissioner said the "stand-off" had caused more hurt and suffering to victims and needed to be implemented without further delay.

Ms Thompson, who was reappointed as the commissioner for victims and survivors last summer added that some victims were now being forced to go to court to secure a pension.

When pressed by the chair of the committee, Simon Hoare, if she agreed that those injured by their own hand should be excluded from the scheme, Ms Thompson replied.

"I am happy to accept the political decision which says it proceeds without those people getting it, it must proceed for the greater number of people who want it," she said.

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The commissioner also raised concerns about the government's "revised proposals" to deal with the legacy of the Troubles, which she said had "abandoned" the structures of the Stormont House Agreement.

She complained that victims had not been consulted about the latest proposals and have yet to see the details.

'No trust left'

Emmett McConomy, whose 11-year-old brother Stephen was killed by a soldier in 1982, also criticised what he called the "unpicking" of the Stormont House Agreement only to be left with the severe "dilution" of what was agreed.

He said there was no trust left and families were being denied what was promised.

Mary Moreland, whose husband John was killed by the IRA in 1988, said the delay in dealing with the legacy of the past was having an impact on the mental health of victims' families and had the potential to harm future generations

She said the Stormont House Agreement, while not perfect, was an "awkward" compromise but it did provide hope which has now been taken away.