Justice spokesperson, Doug Beattie MC MLA, said, “It would be outrageous if the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland allowed the Irish Government to nominate individuals or indeed have any current input to the UK Independent Commission on Reconciliation and Information Retrieval (ICRIR) oversight body. The Irish Government have done absolutely nothing to address legacy but instead has stood as a passive bystander, complaining, indeed taking legal action, against a UK government that has been attempting to address legacy. This would challenge both the independence and the integrity of the ICRIR.

“The principles of the 2014 Stormont House Agreement meant that those who were abducted, taken across the border to the Irish Republic and murdered would not get an investigation. Those who were left blind, burned, limbless or disabled will also be denied an investigation if there were no fatalities. If this is the principle the Secretary of State is following, then is this really a move away from amnesties or just a repackaging of legacy by someone who is clearly not listening.

“The Ulster Unionist Party is clear; they will not support an ICRIR if former RUC and PSNI officers are barred from serving on it, and it will not support the Secretary of State in allowing the Irish Government to sit on or have an input to the ICRIR oversight body. The Irish Government needs to be held to account by the UK government for their failure to address legacy, not rewarded for their failures, until such actions are resolved, there should be no involvement from the Irish government in the ICRIR.”