Northern Ireland is to have four victims commissioners after the Rev Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness ditched a plan to appoint just one, it was disclosed today.
It is understood the sister of an IRA man shot dead by the SAS and the widow of a policeman gunned down in Belfast have been offered posts on a panel which will represent families who lost relatives during 35 years of bloodshed.
The power-sharing executive in Belfast had originally wanted a single commissioner on a £65,000-a-year salary but after a recruitment process which dragged on for almost a year, the First and Deputy First Ministers decided to settle for four.
Ulster Unionist deputy leader Danny Kennedy, who chairs the Assembly committee scrutinising Mr Paisley and Mr McGuinness, claimed the decision to appoint four commissioners showed there was clear political deadlock.
"Due to the manner in which this announcement was leaked people will now be scrutinising the individuals named to identify political allegiances," he said. "This is a bad start to their term of appointment. The fact that there are four commissioners also indicates a clear carve-up between the DUP and Sinn Fein."
Authoritative Stormont sources said the four commissioners, whose appointments will be confirmed in the Assembly on Monday, will be:
- Bertha McDougal whose police reservist husband Lindsay was gunned down by the Irish National Liberation Army in Belfast city centre in 1981. She previously served as the Interim Victims Commissioner, making recommendations last year. However her appointment by former Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain was deemed improper and politically motivated by a High Court judge when it was challenged in the courts,
- Patricia McBride, whose brother Tony was one of two IRA members killed along with a member of SAS near the Irish border in Co Fermanagh in 1984.
- Brendan McAllister, the director of Mediation Northern Ireland, who was involved in efforts to resolve the Drumcree marching dispute between members of the Protestant Orange Order and nationalists.
- Mike Nesbitt, a former television news anchorman and public relations consultant, who has worked for Ulster Television and the BBC.
Stormont sources said the commission members will all receive £65,000 and will agree among themselves who will chair their meetings. The deputy leader of the cross-community Alliance Party Naomi Long claimed the decision to appoint four commissioners showed the First and Deputy First Ministers were unable to make important decisions.
"This is a damaging fudge. How is this arrangement going to work?" she asked.
"The work carried out by a Victims Commissioner is extremely important and I fear that the First and Deputy First Minister's actions might lead to the ridicule of this vital role.
"Why were four people appointed, when every one of them would have been capable of doing the job single-handedly?"
Democratic Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson said the arrangement would be good for victims and their families. "During the process it was felt the victims sector should be given proper recognition," the Lagan Valley MP said.
"So if there's a Parades Commission with seven people on it, an Equality Commission and Human Rights Commission with several commissioners on them, why should victims not be given equal status? "The reaction of Danny Kennedy just shows how far he is out of the loop. He and Naomi Long are wrong.
"This was about the First and Deputy First Ministers trying to get this issue right for victims and bringing about changes which will benefit the victims sector for many years to come."