Dr Stephen Farry MLA said: “Alliance continues to be impressed by work of the Eames-Bradley commission on dealing with the past, especially their focus on reconciliation and building a shared future. However, there is a danger that the proposal for compensation could overshadow their other good work.
“We would have three particular concerns with their recommendations. Firstly, not every victim is interested in financial compensation – many victims would view truth, justice and a sense of closure as far more important. Families want to know what happened to their loved ones and why. Secondly, it’s one thing to talk about no hierarchy of victims existing, but there are different circumstance regarding people’s deaths, and victims and survivors have different sets of needs and different finance circumstances. Thirdly, this type of work focussing on individual victims may be better left to the Victims Commission and independent structures. The real added value with Eames-Bradley comes with the formulation of policy on how this society can address the past in a manner consistent with a shared future, through concepts such as storytelling and truth recovery.”
ENDS