My Lords, although the House is faced with two undesirable options, I very much prefer the position advanced by the Government to that advanced by the noble Lord, Lord Murphy. If accepted, his amendment would preclude immunities from being granted, in the most part. The Government’s position allows for the possibility of immunities, albeit surrounded by provisos and caveats.
I personally take what I know to be a minority view: that the proper way forward is for a statute of limitations to preclude all prosecutions for all offences alleged to have been committed prior to the Good Friday agreement. This would apply both to security personnel and to alleged terrorists; I do not think it is possible to make a distinction between the two.
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My reason is a very simple one: there is, I believe, a serious disparity between the position of former servicemen and the way they are being treated—that is to say that they are at risk of prosecution—and, for example, the distinction, the positions and the respect which have been accorded to people who have been alleged to have committed former terrorist acts. I have in mind, for example, Mr McGuinness. I have the greatest respect for the courage of Mr McGuinness in his decision to renounce terrorism and to participate in constitutional government, but you cannot overlook the past entirely, and it seems to me to be wholly wrong in principle, and an abuse of legal process, to expose former servicemen, whose culpability is probably very much less, to the risk of prosecution when, at the same time, you have given positions of honour and respect to people who have allegedly committed crimes.
It is for that reason that I favour very much a statute of limitations, and I am prepared to call it an amnesty. That is what we recommended when I was at the Foreign Office for many countries that had been through periods of civil discord, and that is what I think is the proper way forward. However, I know full well that that is not a majority view, either in this House or in the Province, or indeed in Ireland itself. That being so, I favour the position adopted by the Government rather than that advocated by the noble Lord, much as I respect him.