The controversial body was established under the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023, which the new UK government has said it will repeal and replace.

The Act originally provided for a limited form of immunity from prosecution for offences related to the Troubles for those who co-operate with ICRIR, headed by former lord chief justice Sir Declan Morgan.

However, Northern Ireland’s High Court ruled in February that those provisions were incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the Windsor Framework.

The UK government confirmed in July that it would abandon an appeal against the key parts of that ruling, though would continue to appeal a point of law related to the Windsor Framework.

In an update published today, ICRIR said it had received 85 enquiries since 1 May and eight of them have been accepted for investigation and are in the information recovery stage.

Sir Declan said: “We are now at a stage where people have come forward and put their trust in the Commission to take their requests forward. We will now do so in line with our values and core principles.

“We are moving into the next phase of our work as the serious and important task of investigation begins.

“In doing this we must meet the commitments that we have made to each person who comes to us, through our open and published policies, and through our trauma and resiliency informed model.”

Commission for investigations Peter Sheridan added: “Many of the individuals and families that the Commission will meet will have experienced harm and suffering and may have waited many years to find out more about what they and their loved ones went through.

“We recognise the seriousness of the work that we are undertaking and understand that how we do things is as important as what we do.”