Troubles

Northern Ireland's legacy pension scheme for victims of the Troubles has opened for applications from today. The scheme, officially known as the "victims' payments scheme for permanent disablement", is designed to recognise and acknowledge the harm suffered and to promote reconciliation, as well as

A former soldier has failed in his bid to have a manslaughter trial halted. David Holden, 51, will stand trial over the killing of Aidan McAnespie in County Tyrone in 1988 after a judge ruled there are sufficient grounds for the case to proceed.

UN experts have expressed "grave concern" that UK government plans to end all prosecutions for incidents during the Troubles, including killings, will amount to a policy of blanket impunity for serious human rights violations. Fabián Salvioli, the special rapporteur on the promotion of truth,

It is "plausible" that security services had "a real prospect of preventing the Omagh bombing", a High Court judge in Belfast has ruled. In a judgment delivered this morning, Mr Justice Mark Horner called for new Article 2-compliant investigations to take place on both sides of the border.

The Northern Ireland Assembly has unanimously rejected deeply controversial UK government proposals to end all criminal prosecutions linked to the Troubles. Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis last week set out the government's proposal for a "statute of limitations" which would prevent the pro

All criminal prosecutions linked to killings during the Troubles would be brought to an end under deeply controversial proposals announced by the UK government yesterday. Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis yesterday told MPs that the government wants to introduce a "statute of limitations, to

Mr Justice Gerry McAlinden has been appointed as president of the Victims’ Payments Board, which will determine who is entitled to payments under the new Troubles pension scheme. The judge was appointed as interim president of the board last November and will now take on the role permanently f

Stormont's Executive Office is under a legal obligation to fund a pension for people who suffered severe injuries in the Troubles, the Court of Appeal has ruled. The scheme opens for applications in March but it is not yet clear who will fund the payments, as Stormont and Westminster have been engag

Mr Justice Gerry McAlinden has been appointed as interim president of the Victims' Payments Board, which will determine who is entitled to payments under the new Troubles pension scheme. The Department of Justice was designated in August, following a long political row, as the administrator of the l

An appeal has been issued for information on the death of Leo Norney on 13 September 1975. The inquest into the death of the 17-year-old is to be heard by Coroner McGurgan on a date to be fixed.   

Belfast-based Ó Muirigh Solicitors has been instructed by filmmaker Séan Murray following a "smear campaign by certain media commentators and individuals on social media". Mr Murray is the director of Unquiet Graves, a documentary exploring state collusion with loyalists during the Tro

Former justice minister Charlie Flanagan has been rebuked by lawyers and campaigners after complaining to RTÉ over its broadcast of a documentary exploring state collusion with loyalists during the Troubles. Unquiet Graves, which was released in 2018 but aired by RTÉ One for the first

The legacy pension scheme for victims of the Troubles will likely not open for applications until March 2021, Justice Minister Naomi Long has said. The Department of Justice was designated last month as the administrator of the scheme, allowing its implementation to move forward.

The outgoing Commissioner for Victims and Survivors has called on the Executive Office to appoint a successor as a matter of urgency. Despite indicating her willingness to be reappointed, ministers confirmed last month that Judith Thompson's term will end on Monday.

The implementation of the legacy pension scheme for victims of the Troubles will move ahead following the designation of the Department of Justice as the administrator of the scheme. The move comes days after the High Court in Belfast ruled that the Executive Office was unlawfully stymieing the impl