Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Jeffrey M Donaldson (Democratic Unionist Party). It was answered on Tuesday, 1 November 2011 on behalf of the Northern Ireland Grand Committee.

Dealing with the Past

Question: I thank the Minister for his response. There has been much talk about a truth commission as a possible way of dealing with the legacy of the past, but what hope do we have of getting the truth from people such as Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness when they deny their membership of the IRA? In Mr Adams’s case, it is a complete denial; Mr McGuinness says that he left after 1974. Surely the victims are entitled to expect a bit more than that. As we have seen in the recent presidential election in the Irish Republic, even victims in the south are demanding the full truth and not a half baked approach from Sinn Fein.

Answer: The right hon. Gentleman makes his point. Clearly, the Government have said that we do not envisage a South African-style truth commission being the answer. We need to work together to come up with an answer, and I believe that we are making progress on that. Clearly, getting at the truth requires all those involved in Northern Ireland’s troubled history to play their part; otherwise, all we end up with is a very skewed version of the truth, which would not advance the situation at all. Between us, we need to come up with something. I am not sure that we can ever completely draw a line —I think that that would be wishful thinking—but we can certainly do more than we have done in the past. The present Government, in the last 17 months, have moved very quickly on a number of difficult issues, not all of which have necessarily been popular. This matter is certainly one that we wish to pursue, working with the properly responsible local politicians in Northern Ireland.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: NIGC c4-5
Session: 2010-12
Oral question type: 1st Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Commons Grand Committees
Subjects: IRA Northern Ireland Northern Ireland government Terrorism Sinn Féin
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk