Northern Ireland’s Justice Minister David Ford has said responsibility for a failure to properly fund legacy investigations in Northern Ireland should fall on the shoulders of the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) and not the Department of Justice.

Mr Ford told the Belfast Telegraph that the NIO was “punishing the justice system for the failings of others”.

It has refused to release funds earmarked for legacy investigations until Northern Ireland achieves political agreement on new institutions to investigate the past.

New institutions were originally agreed as part of the Stormont House Agreement but their implementation was not agreed in the subsequent inter-government talks that led to the Fresh Start deal.

Mr Ford said: “Failure to provide funds earmarked by the Treasury as long ago as December 2014 is simply punishing the justice system for the failings of others.

“Theresa Villiers made a deal with the Irish government, Sinn Féin and the DUP without including the suggested institutions on the past.

“There was not even any way proposed to deal with the past, and victims were badly let down.

“Now the NIO seems to be using that failure as an excuse to refuse to fund essential work being done on the past.

“If legacy issues are not dealt with properly, it will be the British government, not the Department of Justice, that has to answer questions in Strasbourg.”