Launch Event: Response to Stormont House legacy consultation – QUB/UU/CAJ Model Bill Team

The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) is currently consulting on a draft legacy bill to take forward the establishment of the four legacy bodies negotiated and agreed by the NI political parties and the Irish and UK governments in the 2014 Stormont House Agreement. Namely, the Implementation and Reconciliation Group (IRG), Oral History Archive (OHA), Independent Commission on Information Retrieval (ICIR) and Historical Investigations Unit (HIU).  The consultation opened on 11 May and will close on 10 September 2018. The legislation is then due to be introduced into Westminster.

In 2015, a team made up of academics from Queen’s University and Ulster University, together with some visiting experts and CAJ staff members, produced a Model Bill, accompanied by Explanatory Notes, to demonstrate how the Stormont House Agreement legacy mechanisms might be implemented in a human rights compliant manner.

Into 2018, the Model Bill Team have produced a detailed written response to the provisions in the current draft legacy bill. This launch event will present and publish this response, and will feature presentations from Professor Kieran McEvoy (IRG and the ‘national security’ veto); Dr Anna Bryson (OHA); Professor Louise Mallinder (ICIR), and CAJ Deputy Director Daniel Holder (HIU).