Sir, – Your Editorial (June 5th) contains a fundamental inaccuracy. It refers to the Special Advisors Bill that was passed in the Assembly this week and the subsequent debate around the Bill.
The article points to Sinn Féin’s contention that the Bill violates the spirit of the Belfast Agreement and “the subsequent amnesty” for paramilitaries. The reference to an amnesty for paramilitaries flowing from the Agreement is wholly unfounded.
There is no provision in the Agreement or the Northern Ireland Act 1998 that permits an amnesty for paramilitary prisoners. The Agreement allowed firstly for the early release of certain paramilitary prisoners under licence and secondly supported the re-integration of those prisoners into society.
It would have been abhorrent to people across this Island, who endorsed the Agreement just over 15 years ago, for a blanket amnesty to have been available to paramilitary prisoners.
At the time of the Belfast Agreement negotiations the SDLP recognised the challenges inherent in re-integrating paramilitary prisoners into society but also the necessity to do so. However, to have legislated for an amnesty for such prisoners would have been a bridge too far and an affront to victims.
The debate around the Bill has brought into sharp focus the challenges that remain in resolving the past and the pressing need to reconcile all the people of this island, whatever their background.
Reconciliation remains one of the outstanding challenges from the Belfast Agreement and is stifling our progression as a society. Truth and reconciliation are two sides of the same coin and we must use this decade of centenaries to build both.
If the debate has led to political leaders finally recognising that we cannot move forward without a truthful and ethical examination of our past then I welcome it. – Yours, etc,
CONALL MCDEVITT MLA,
Ormeau Road, Belfast.