Police should open murder records - Trimble
The police should throw open their records to show what murders during the Troubles have been resolved and what remain unsolved, Stormont First Minister David Trimble suggested today.
Mr Trimble made the proposal after the DUP’s Oliver Gibson claimed some of his constituents were feeling ‘‘demonised’’ and ‘‘alienated’’ while 90 murders in his constituency remained unresolved and ignored.
In a reference to the 10th anniversary of the IRA bomb attack at Teebane which killed eight Protestant workmen, Mr Gibson (DUP, West Tyrone) said feelings of unionist alienation were being compounded by the lack of attention drawn to that atrocity compared to other incidents during the Troubles.
He asked: ‘‘In view of the fact that those people in west Tyrone in the unionist community are feeling totally alienated, what is the minister going to do to restore some confidence into how those people feel at the moment?’’
Mr Trimble replied: ‘‘As to the question of unsolved murders, I think it would be very helpful if some time the police were to give us an indication of which cases they have closed the file on.
‘‘Because there are a large number of incidents in Northern Ireland which are formally regarded as unsolved where in fact police have closed the file, they know who were responsible and they know those persons are no longer in a position to be made amenable. Many perpetrators are now dead themselves.
‘‘So it would be very interesting to know just how many cases have been cleared up and how many are not cleared up and I think that would give an entirely different perspective on the matter.’’
On the issue of alienation and exclusion, Mr Trimble acknowledged it was a problem but said the executive was striving to provide confidence through inclusive government.
However he added feelings of alienation were also caused by ‘‘the poor quality of leadership offered to them’’.
The Ulster Unionist leader endorsed the recent speech by US President George W Bush’s special advisor on Northern Ireland, Richard Haass bemoaning the quality of political leadership.
He told Annie Courtney (SDLP, Foyle): ‘‘In particular I would endorse one sentence from Richard Haass’s speech - namely when he said leaders in Northern Ireland must resist appealing only to the dissatisfied.
‘‘Also implicit in what he says and explicit at times is that they also have got to have a breadth that covers the community as a whole and not just simply concern themselves purely with the interests of one section alone.
‘‘Modesty might prevent me from referring to the fact that many of the issues in this speech I addressed myself in a speech to the British Irish Association two years ago.’’
During questions on decommissioning, Deputy First Minister Mark Durkan (SDLP, Foyle) was unable to say how many meetings had taken place between the IRA and the international disarmament body since October.
Peter Weir (Expelled UUP, North Down) said many MLAs were concerned that last October’s move by the IRA to put weapons beyond use should be ‘‘part of a process and not a one-off gesture’’.
Mr Durkan replied: ‘‘The member refers to a concern felt by many members of this House.
‘‘First of all in relation to the number of meetings that have taken place since the last decommissioning body report in October, I am not aware and I refer the member to my answer that the First Minister and myself have not jointly received any reports from the IICD.
‘‘We wouldn’t expect by way of our office to receive any report from the IICD, other than those that are made to the (British and Irish) Governments and subsequently published.’’
