Last night at Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, former Council Chairman and Erne North Councillor John McClaughry brought forward a motion calling for support of the term “innocent victims” to distinguish it from the broader definition outlined in the Victims and Survivors (Northern Ireland) Order 2006. While the motion was ultimately defeated, it marked a notable shift in the Alliance Party’s position, having previously voted against similar motions in both the Assembly and other Council chambers, their support on this occasion raises questions about a potential change in direction.

Ulster Unionist Justice Spokesperson Doug Beattie MC MLA also expressed concern over the need for victims to qualify their suffering and highlighting the moral distinction between those harmed and those who caused harm.  

Councillor John McClaughry said,

“In recent years, victims’ groups and members of the public have voiced growing concern about how the term ‘victim’ under the Victims and Survivors (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 has been applied. Although the legislation was designed to support all who were affected, its interpretation has at times failed to recognise the clear moral difference between innocent victims and those who perpetrated violence.”

“Many were particularly troubled by comments from Justice Minister and Alliance leader Naomi Long. In an interview on the Nolan Show, where she remarked that, “Often really bad things have also been done to those people, and that’s part of how they came to the point where they were willing to do those things.”

“These words, and the Alliance Party’s repeated votes first in the Assembly and again across multiple Councils against motions to distinguish innocent victims, have caused deep hurt. Indeed, the Alliance Party’s stance until last night demonstrated a stark disregard for victims, until they at long last appeared to recognise that they had lost touch with the concerns of those most affected or perhaps insulting the many victims of Enniskillen Poppy Day bombing was a step too far.”

“Victims deserve better and the sensitivities of the past shouldn’t be rewritten to suit the Alliance Party’s new found interpretation of victimhood.”

Ulster Unionist Justice Spokesperson Doug Beattie MC MLA remarked,

“It is a sad situation that victim’s, through no fault of their own, must use the term ‘innocent victim’ to differentiate them from the very people who made them victims. There can be no moral equivalence between victim and perpetrator, no grouping the terrorist with the terrorised, no grey areas or blurring of lines between those who set out to murder and maim and those who were left to pick up the pieces.  The very fact that the Alliance party, both in the Stormont Assembly and at Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council, could not support the term ‘innocent victims’ shows just how far they are willing to go to secure nationalist votes. Maybe those councillors in Fermanagh and Omagh District Council will use their own newfound understanding to challenge their own party leadership on this issue.”