Statement by Jim Allister:
“Back in November of 2015 I warned that the so-called “Fresh Start” Agreement contained a hidden insult to victims.
“Paragraph 3.10 of Section A of Fresh Start stated:
Support for Transition
* Initiatives to help moves away from paramilitary structures and activity.
* The reintegration of people previously involved in the Troubles taking into account the report of the Review Panel on employers’ guidance on recruiting.
“This was a reference to the guidance for employers published by OFMdFM in March 2007 (see here http://www.ofmdfmni.gov.uk/1.05.07_ex_prisoners_final_guidance.pdf).
“The guidance says that its “key principle” is:
“……that conflict-related convictions of ‘politically motivated’ ex-prisoners, or their membership of any organisation, should not generally be taken into account [in accessing employment, facilities, goods or services] provided that the act to which the conviction relates, or the membership, predates the Agreement. Only if the conviction, or membership, is materially relevant to the employment, facility, goods or service applied for, should this general rule not apply.”
“It goes on to explain what this means:
“In other words, a conviction arising from the conflict should not bar an applicant from obtaining employment, facilities, and goods or services unless that conviction is manifestly incompatible with the job, facility or service in question. The onus of demonstrating incompatibility would, in the view of the group, rest with whoever was alleging it and the seriousness of the offence would not, per se, constitute adequate grounds.”
“I have now established by way of correspondence with the head of the Civil Service that while much of the vaunted “Fresh Start” is a dim and distant memory the commitment to deliver for convicted terrorists has been fulfilled by amendment of the Civil Service Recruitment Policy.
“Mr Sterling advises me that
“The Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) adopted the guidance in September 2016 and subsequently amended the NICS Recruitment Policy to reflect this change. The amended policy was formally implemented by NICS on 23 December 2016 and mechanisms are now in place to ensure that any case of a person presenting with a conflict related conviction is considered in line with the amended policy.”
“I have also been told that on 6th October 2017 he also wrote to the Permanent Secretaries of all NICS Departments asking them to communicate the change in NICS recruitment to their Arm’s Length Bodies and Non Departmental Public Bodies and to encourage them to adopt the guidance and to the Chief Executives of all District Councils to ascertain if they plan to formally adopt the guidance.”
“In light of the fact that this was a cross cutting issue impacting on all departments in the Civil Service and that the change was introduced before devolution collapsed we need to be told if the DUP nodded this through at the Executive. While of late the DUP has been proclaiming its defence of victims, was one of its last acts in government to placate and gift this form of amnesty to the victim-makers?
“The guidance amounts to special status and sanitising of pre-1998 terrorist convictions to the point where they are written off and the terrorist is treated as if he had never murdered, bombed or maimed. It also reinforces the myth that “conflict related” crimes were somehow different from ordinary crimes. That the man who stole a car to use it to transport a bomb which was used to murder people was somehow not as bad as an “ordinary” car thief. That the man who carried out a robbery to fund the murderous activities of a terrorist organisation was somehow better than an “ordinary” thief.
“The moral morass in which Northern Ireland finds itself is compounded by these deeply insulting guidance which open the door to criminals working alongside those they made victims.”