Victims and survivors of the Troubles deserve justice and shouldn’t have to wait any longer to receive it, Alliance West Tyrone Westminster candidate Stephen Donnelly has said.
Mr Donnelly said the consultation into the Stormont House Agreement legacy mechanisms should proceed immediately, as they offered the best opportunity for the issues to be resolved, adding the status quo was not sustainable in the long-term.
“Proposals on how to deal sensitively and respectfully with the past were decided as part of the Stormont House Agreement. Yet several years later we are sitting here without any action having been taken on them. The UK Government needs to release its consultation immediately and allow the process to move on,” he said.
“Alliance has always raised the topic of victims and survivors in the numerous talks processes over the years because they deserve justice and deserve it now. Instead it is clear some see them purely as a political football and forget about their issues at other times.
“While the Stormont House Agreement mechanisms and other means for comprehensively dealing with the past such as a victims’ pension cannot bring justice for everyone, it will get the ball rolling and allow us as a society to move on in a way that is inclusive to the needs of all.”