Ards and North Down Borough Council adopts DUP motion to write to the Justice Secretary
A Northern Ireland council is demanding the Justice Minister Naomi Long apologise over the use of the word “innocent” in relation to a debate in the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Ards and North Down Borough Council, which has a majority unionist chamber, backed a DUP motion at a recent committee meeting, which condemned language used in a proposal made at Stormont concerning legacy, and victims of the Troubles.
The motion states: “This council is deeply alarmed that the definition of victim in the Victim and Survivors (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 does not distinguish between those who perpetrated wrongdoing during the Troubles and the innocent victims they harmed, injured, killed or bereaved.
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“(It) believes that innocent victims should not have to interact with terrorists and their supporters when accessing victim support services, and asserts that there is no moral equivalence between victim-makers and innocent victims.”
In the motion the council states it “welcomes the fact that the victims pension legislation makes a clear distinction between perpetrator and victim.”
The motion “condemns the Alliance Party’s decision to intentionally blur this line by removing the word “innocent” from the description of a victim in a recent Assembly motion addressing the legacy of the past.
Ards and North Down Borough Council will now write to the Justice Minister “requesting that she personally apologise for suggesting that victim makers could also be considered victims.”
The motion refers to a debate in the Northern Ireland Assembly in September where a DUP motion which referred to “innocent victims” in relation to the Troubles and the Irish Government was opposed by Alliance, Sinn Féin and others. Alliance, Sinn Féin and others supported an amendment which included the removal of the word “innocent,” which led to criticism from unionists that this was equating perpetrators with their victims.
During the Assembly debate the DUP originally forwarded a motion calling on the Irish government to be held accountable for its role in the Troubles and referred to the families of those who were murdered as “innocent victims.”
The motion called for the Irish government to be held to account for its “abject failure” in helping families who “suspected Irish state involvement in the murder of their loved ones.”
The motion also objected to Dublin having an oversight role in the new legacy structures agreed between the UK and Irish governments last week.
The motion was ultimately amended to just “victims,” with other changes, and was supported by Sinn Féin, Alliance, and the SDLP, while unionist members did not support it.
In the weeks following the debate at Stormont, unionist parties have repeatedly raised motions in local councils condemning the use of language, and singling out the Alliance Party.
The DUP failed to pass a similar motion asking for an apology from the Justice Minister at Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council, after the Alliance Mayor there tipped a knife-edge vote. In Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council, a DUP motion was passed arguing that the official definition of a victim “blurred the moral line.”
At the November meeting of the Ards and North Down Corporate Services Committee, the motion forwarded by DUP Councillor James Cochrane passed with ten votes in favour from the DUP, UUP and independent Unionists, to five votes against from Alliance.
Councillor Cochrane said: “This motion expresses deep concern that the definition of a victim in current policy and political language fails to draw a clear line between those who committed acts of violence during the troubles, and those who were harmed by them. It further expresses our concern that recent comments and decisions by the Justice Minister have further compounded that confusion by suggesting those that carried out acts of terrorism could also be victims themselves.”
He said: “The motion before us is grounded in a simple moral truth: there is no equivalence between victim makers and victims. Those who planted bombs, pulled triggers and brought fear to our communities were not victims of the conflict, they were its perpetrators.”
Alliance Party Alderman Martin McRandal said at the meeting: “The Alliance Party has always been unequivocal: there is no moral equivalence between those who deliberately caused harm in the Trouble and those who suffered because of their actions. Anyone who actually listened to Naomi Long ’s interview would have heard her state that clearly.
“Let’s set out a few facts here. This was not an Alliance amendment (at the Assembly), so why was the party responsible for tabling it not mentioned in this (council) motion. Naomi Long was not even in the chamber during the debate, yet she is the one the DUP have chosen to attack.
“Alliance didn’t support the DUP’s motion in the Assembly, not because it included the term “innocent victims,” but because it sought to exclude the Irish government from the Legacy process.”
He said: “Unlike others we have been consistent. Those who set out to kill or injure should be held fully accountable for their actions. Our party can stand tall on the fact we have never endorsed the activity of paramilitary or other proscribed groups, nor have we sought advice on government policy from their umbrella organisations. Can the DUP say the same?”
He added: “Recognising the complex realities of our past, including that some individuals could have been both victims and perpetrators at different times, is neither new nor controversial.”
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