A proposal by the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, Sir Declan Morgan, to create a new legacy inquest unit has failed to secure funding.

The Northern Ireland Executive has not signed off on a request for funding to set up the new unit, which Sir Declan said could complete a backlog of outstanding Troubles-related inquests within five years.

It has emerged the Executive did not discuss the proposal before the Northern Ireland Assembly dissolved.

Executive rules mean the proposal required the support of both the First Minister and deputy First Minister in order to be discussed.

A statement issued on behalf of Sir Declan said he is “disappointed that the Northern Ireland Executive has not yet submitted a bid forward to the Secretary of State for funding for legacy inquests”.

It continues: “The Lord Chief Justice’s plans for dealing with the outstanding legacy caseload were dependent on the provision of additional resources and the length of time it takes for a decision to be made on funding will, therefore, affect the timeframe for the establishment of the proposed new Legacy Inquest Unit.”

Patrick Corrigan, Northern Ireland programme director at Amnesty International, said: “It is extremely disappointing to hear that the First Minister has blocked clearly articulated and reasoned plans from the Lord Chief Justice to deal with the backlog of ‘legacy inquests’ in Northern Ireland.

“Bereaved family members have already been made to wait for decades for a proper investigation into the deaths of their loved ones. To snatch away the prospect of an inquest, after decades of delay and denial of justice, will only add to victims’ sense of betrayal.

“Putting right this wrong must be the number one item on the agenda at the first meeting of the new Northern Ireland Executive after this week’s election.”