Britain’s vexed relationship with the European rights court was back in focus on Wednesday as Ireland took action against UK attempts to draw a legal line under Northern Ireland’s Troubles.
Ireland’s deputy premier (Tanaiste) Micheal Martin said that his government had long been warning London about its concerns over immunity provisions in the Legacy Act, as it confirmed an inter-state legal case under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The UK Act, adopted in September, ends prosecutions and civil cases related to the three decades of violence leading up to the Good Friday Agreement of 1998.
It substitutes a new independent commission as a route for victims to seek a measure of justice, offering conditional immunity to those accused of violence, including murder, as long as they cooperate with the commission.
Pro-Irish nationalists in Northern Ireland argue the law is intended to protect British security personnel accused of unlawful killings during the Troubles. Unionists are also opposed, claiming it would let IRA murderers escape justice.
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said the Irish case at the ECHR was “welcome” and “utterly necessary”.
He said “no political party or institution on this island supports” the Act, describing it as “the most extreme legislation that shuts down access to justice for victims and survivors”.
Grainne Teggart of Amnesty International in Northern Ireland also backed Dublin's action.
“The Irish government is doing the right thing for victims, for the rule of law and for the upholding of human rights,” she said.
Mr Martin said: “In particular, we have concerns around provisions which allow for the granting of immunity, and which shut down existing avenues to truth and justice for historic cases, including inquests, police investigations, Police Ombudsman investigations, and civil actions.
“Even in cases in which immunity is not granted, reviews by the proposed body, the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery are not an adequate substitute for police investigations, carried out independently, adequately, and with sufficient participation of next of kin.”
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Confirming the complaint would be introduced at the ECHR court in Strasbourg, the Tanaiste added: “We now find ourselves in a space where our only recourse is to pursue a legal path.
“It is important to leave the next steps to the court.”
There was no immediate comment from the UK Government, which has separately been at loggerheads with the Strasbourg court after an ECHR judge blocked its plan to deport cross-Channel migrants to Rwanda.
Conservative Right-wingers have been clamouring for Rishi Sunak to pull Britain out of the ECHR, as a way of getting the Rwanda plan off the ground.
But others say that would make the UK an international pariah alongside Russia and Belarus - and stress that the convention underpins the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland.
