Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“I was shocked to discover today that the Police Ombudsman’s office has written to victims’ families advising them that due to a loss of 25% of the staff involved in what they term “historic investigations” the work on the cases “cannot be completed before 2025”.
“Some of those who have received letters are in their 80s and 90s so the prospect of them seeing the completion of the investigations is slim to non-existent. This news has therefore come as a devastating blow.
“One wonders how the Police Ombudsman arrived at the date 2025. It appears to be completely arbitrary.
“The Historical Inquires Team has shut up shop and now the Police Ombudsman is saying he doesn’t have the resources to investigate complaints either. Victims are being let down by even the limited institutions which where addressing some of their concerns, albeit with questionable adequacy.
“The fact that these letters are generic and no distinction is made between cases which have been with the Ombudsman for years and more recent cases will feed the perception that this has as much to do with politics as with genuine issues surrounding the budget.
“The heartlessness of the process is again underscored by the fact that letters to twelve individual families were delivered in a single envelope to South Armagh based victims’ group FAIR.
“This simply isn’t good enough. Unionists involved in the talks process should be demanding that the cases continue to be progressed at least until a replacement process for dealing with them is in place. As things stand, it is hard to escape the conclusion that this is all part of an effort to increase pressure on innocent victims to accept the iniquitous Haass proposals which will be revisited during the talks.”