Paisley and McGuinness to appoint victims commissioners
The North is to have four victims commissioners after the Rev Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness dramatically ditched a plan to appoint just one.
The sister of an IRA man shot dead by the SAS and the widow of a policeman gunned down in Belfast have been offered posts on the panel which will represent families who lost relatives during 35 years of bloodshed.
The power-sharing executive in Belfast had originally wanted a single commissioner on a £65,000 (€87,600)-a-year salary but after a recruitment process that dragged on for almost a year, the First and Deputy First Ministers decided to settle for four – a compromise that stunned all sides at Parliament Buildings.
SDLP leader Mark Durkan asked: “Will these commissioners have different remits and specialisms? Will they be operating on different issues and will they have different victim constituencies?”
Authoritative Stormont sources said the four commissioners, whose appointments will be confirmed in the Assembly on Monday, will be:
:: Bertha McDougal, whose police reservist husband Lindsay was gunned down by the INLA in Belfast city centre in 1981. She previously served as the Interim Victims Commissioner, making recommendations last year. However her appointment by former Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain was deemed improper and politically motivated by a High Court judge when it was challenged in the courts;
:: Patricia MacBride, whose brother Tony was one of two IRA members killed along with a member of the SAS near the Border in Co Fermanagh in 1984, and whose father Frank also died as a result of his injuries 17 months after being shot by loyalists in east Belfast in May 1972.
Ms MacBride managed the Bloody Sunday Trust and was one of two victims’ representatives who served on the Northern Ireland Civic Forum;
:: Brendan McAllister, the director of Mediation Northern Ireland, who was involved in efforts to resolve the Drumcree marching dispute between members of the Orange Order and nationalists;
:: Mike Nesbitt, a former television news anchorman and public relations consultant, who has worked for Ulster Television and the BBC.
Sources said the commission members will each receive £65,000 (€87,600) and will agree among themselves who will chair their meetings.
Ulster Unionist deputy leader Danny Kennedy, who chairs the Assembly committee scrutinising Mr Paisley and Mr McGuinness, said the decision showed there was political deadlock at the heart of the executive.
“This is a bad start to their term of appointment,” he claimed.
“The fact that there are four commissioners also indicates a clear carve-up between the DUP and Sinn Féin.”
The deputy leader of the cross-community Alliance Party Naomi Long also claimed the appointment of four commissioners showed the First and Deputy First Ministers were unable to make important decisions.
“This is a damaging fudge. How is this arrangement going to work?” she asked.
“The work carried out by a Victims Commissioner is extremely important and I fear that the First and Deputy First Minister’s actions might lead to the ridicule of this vital role.
“Why were four people appointed, when every one of them would have been capable of doing the job single-handedly?”
Democratic Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson said the arrangement would be good for victims and their families.
“During the process it was felt the victims sector should be given proper recognition,” the Lagan Valley MP said.
“So if there’s a Parades Commission with seven people on it, an Equality Commission and Human Rights Commission with several commissioners on them, why should victims not be given equal status?
“The reaction of Danny Kennedy just shows how far he is out of the loop. He and Naomi Long are wrong.
“This was about the First and Deputy First Ministers trying to get this issue right for victims and bringing about changes which will benefit the victims sector for many years to come.”
Stormont sources also disputed the UUP and Alliance Party’s claims.
“If they’re right about a DUP and Sinn Féin carve-up, how do they explain the fact that there is going to be a four-member commission? Why not appoint just two commissioners?” one source asked.
