Press Releases - 2003

20 June 2003

Federation Dismisses Idea Of Truth & Reconciliation Commission

The Police Federation for Northern Ireland has dismissed any suggestion for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, saying it would be ineffective and insulting as a means of bringing closure for the families of the 211 police officers whose murders remain unsolved.

Speaking after the unanimous passing of the resolution by the Central Committee of the Federation, confirming this stance, Irwin Montgomery, Chairman of the Federation, said that his members wanted closure for the families but it had to be closure with justice.

"We can only achieve justice if the unsolved murders of police officers and indeed the other 1800 civilian unsolved murders, are properly investigated and the responsible people identified. My members are infuriated by talk of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. They see the situation in Northern Ireland as not being comparable to South Africa. In our view the only people who would benefit from such a Commission would be the terrorists and paramilitaries, who would use the Forum to justify their crimes. Secondly, it is impossible for the security and intelligence services to appear at such a Commission when the information they have is still vital to security today. Not only that, murderers want to walk away from a Commission as free men but expect to see police officers prosecuted. There have been no winners in the conflict in Northern Ireland but the families of innocent, murdered police officers and civilians have certainly been the losers.

"The lack of any activity regarding the murders of our colleagues is a sad indictment of this Government, who seem only too happy, for reasons of political expediency, to pump millions into the endless investigation of the deaths of a select few."