Blair under fire over fugitives
British Prime Minister Tony Blair was tonight accused of failing to get to grips with the issues around granting on-the-run paramilitaries the right to return to Northern Ireland.
As speculation mounted that the British government could begin this week legislative moves to smooth the return of those who fled to avoid arrest, cross community Alliance Party justice spokesperson Stephen Farry said Mr Blair did not appreciate the nature of objections to the plan.
“It is not a simplistic choice between letting the fugitives go and sending them to prison,” the North Down councillor said.
“There are a number of specific points relating to the mechanics of the scheme.
“Paramilitary fugitives were not mentioned within the Good Friday Agreement.
“The only way forward is to address the issue in a manner consistent with the Agreement and natural justice.
“The Prime Minister needs to address why it would be wrong to ensure that the IRA deal with the issue of exiles first. It would be perverse if IRA fugitives were allowed to return home while those exiled by the IRA do not have that luxury because threats have not been lifted.”
The British government has been bracing itself for a backlash, particularly from unionists, to its plans to allow IRA terror suspects to return.
Sinn Féin has pressed the British government to allow on-the-runs to come back and guarantee that they will not be jailed.
Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain has insisted there will be a judicial element to any scheme which will allow on-the-runs back home.
Last week nationalist SDLP leader Mark Durkan insisted that the suspects should appear in court to answer the charges levelled against them if they were to qualify under the scheme.
It is understood the British government could move this week on the legislation dealing with the on-the-runs issue, possibly on Wednesday.
Earlier today Mr Blair defended the plans, which are being introduced on the back of the completion of IRA disarmament and the organisation’s statement in July declaring an end to its armed campaign.
Mr Blair said those suspected of offences before 1998 when the Good Friday Agreement was forged had to be dealt with in the same way as loyalist and republication prisoners who were released early as a result of that deal.
Insisting that it was not a matter of political expediency, the British Prime Minister said: “Under the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, people who were convicted and imprisoned for terrorist offences pre-1998 got released.
“How can you possibly say they (on-the-runs) should be put in prison if the people already convicted have been let out?
“That is why there is a symmetry, if you like, about dealing with prisoners and on-the-runs.”
