Speeches

Margaret Ritchie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ritchie on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Executive on funding for inquests into the killings allegedly carried out by the British Army’s Military Reaction Force.

James Brokenshire

The Government committed, in our manifesto, to work to reform the system of legacy inquests in a way that enables the UK Government to fulfil its international obligations. The current system was not designed to cope with a large number of highly complex cases that involve sensitive information. Since taking up office I have been meeting regularly with the Executive parties and a large number of other stakeholders as part of work to progress reforms around legacy issues. I will continue to engage with the Northern Ireland Executive and others and consider any proposals that the Executive puts forward that would lead to effective reform of the inquest system.