Hilary Benn insists on keeping the ICRIR

Transcript

00:00In regards to the ICRIR, I think we all agree it's vital to have a body which has the faith

00:05and trust of victims and their families, and I do pay tribute to Sir Declan Morgan and

00:10his colleagues for the work that they've done in hugely challenging circumstances.

00:14I hear what the Secretary of State says regarding the formation, regarding reforming the ICRIR,

00:20but will he keep on the table the option of replacing it entirely should it turn out that

00:24such reforms do not deliver what we all want to see, which is families getting the answers

00:29they need in a manner which promotes reconciliation, and an institution that commands widespread

00:34public trust?

00:36Well, I'm grateful to the Honourable Gentleman for his questions.

00:41Look, I do hope that it might be possible to reach agreement with the Irish Government

00:48about how we take this forward.

00:50Whether they withdraw the interstate case is, of course, entirely a matter for them,

00:55but only yesterday I had discussions with Michael Martin and Helen McEntee, the Justice

01:01Minister, and myself from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, in which we discussed

01:06these matters, and I regard that dialogue as very, very important to building confidence.

01:13Secondly, I can only repeat myself, the answer to the question, when will the legislation

01:18be forthcoming, is when parliamentary time allows.

01:22And on his third question, keeping open the prospect of abolishing ICRA, I would just

01:28simply say to him and to the House, one could do that there, those who would argue it.

01:35You would bring to a halt the cases that have already started, and for each of those families

01:40that's taken the decision to approach ICRA, that case really matters.

01:44So to say to them, right, forget that, waste all the money that has been put into establishing

01:50ICRA so that it has the capacity to do its work.

01:55Waste another year or two, and I said, nobody's getting any younger, and in the end, in most

02:03of the discussions I've had, I've said to people, do you think we need an information

02:06recovery function?

02:07And they say, yes.

02:09Do you think that we need a means of continuing investigation?

02:12Yes.

02:13Well, that's what was contained in Stormont House, and I'm not yet persuaded that scrapping

02:17that, to then recreate something that ends up looking not dissimilar from what we have

02:22at the moment, is a terribly sensible or pragmatic approach to take, but I'm open to conversations

02:29in the way that I set out about what more we can do in relation to ICRA to increase

02:33the public's confidence in it.