{"id":4237,"date":"2018-10-05T09:48:55","date_gmt":"2018-10-05T08:48:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=4237"},"modified":"2018-10-05T09:49:02","modified_gmt":"2018-10-05T08:49:02","slug":"watch-sinn-fein-claims-that-uk-government-was-main-troubles-protagonist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=4237","title":{"rendered":"Watch: Sinn Fein claims that UK Government was main Troubles protagonist"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The claim is contained in the party\u2019s formal response to a public consultation on proposed mechanisms designed to address the toxic legacy of the conflict.<\/p>\n

Senior party figures were pressed on the contention at the launch event at Stormont on Wednesday and whether it was consistent with casualty figures over the 30 years of violence.<\/p>\n

Of the 3,600 people killed during the Troubles, the IRA was responsible for more than 1,700 of the deaths.<\/p>\n

Around 370 killings were attributed to the security forces, though a number of families whose loved ones were murdered by loyalists allege the state colluded in those deaths as well.<\/p>\n

Sinn Fein has said it stands by its description of the UK government as the \u201cmain conflict protagonist\u201d in the Troubles.As the publication event at Parliament Building, Sinn Fein Assembly member Gerry Kelly insisted the UK government had the most responsibility for the conflict.<\/p>\n

As the publication event at Parliament Building, Sinn Fein Assembly member Gerry Kelly insisted the UK government had the most responsibility for the conflict.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were the main protagonists, they are a government, they had 31,000 troops, they have a standing army of something like 150,000,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it is not unreasonable that they were the main protagonists, and certainly in terms of what was suffered within the nationalist population.\u201d<\/p>\n

Party vice president Michelle O\u2019Neill said reconciliation involved accepting that people had different narratives of what happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we look at the conflict there are very many different narratives of the past and the first step of reconciliation and moving forward is actually recognising that to be a fact,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we stand over the words in the document, we stand over the proposals in this document, we have taken this work seriously and went through with a fine tooth comb with victims, not just nationalist and republicans, but right across the whole spectrum, because that is the way to move society forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

DUP leader Arlene Foster accused Sinn Fein of trying to \u201cdistort the truth\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the Troubles, there were over 3,500 deaths, of which 60% were at the hands of republican paramilitaries, mainly the Provisional IRA,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA member of the security forces in Northern Ireland was three times more likely to be killed than a member of the IRA.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not about \u2018different narratives of the past\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the continuation of attempts to rewrite history.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not opinions which Sinn Fein seek to change, but hard facts.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cOnly Sinn Fein could put together a response to a consultation on dealing with the past in Northern Ireland and take umbrage at being questioned in relation to the IRA\u2019s role.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all should be focused on the future, but it will not heal the wounds of any victim in Northern Ireland nor will it help us move forward if republicans cannot even accept the role they played but wish to shift the blame for all their actions onto the government of the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n

\u201dIt is not opinions which Sinn Fein seek to change, but hard facts.\u00a0 Arlene Foster<\/cite><\/p>\n

The Sinn Fein consultation document also restates the party\u2019s opposition to any suggestion that former members of the security forces could be protected from prosecution by a statute of limitations.<\/p>\n

A number of Conservative backbenchers continue to lobbying for a statute, despite its omission from the proposals outlined in the Government\u2019s legacy consultation.<\/p>\n

Mrs O\u2019Neill said: \u201cAny attempt to bring in a statute of limitations will undermine confidence in the whole range of measures that have been outlined in the consultation.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny attempt to bring in a statute of limitations is not acceptable.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one should be above the law and any attempt to do that would undermine the whole process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Party colleague Linda Dillon added: \u201cIt is a real concern that when the legislation comes to the floor of Westminster that there will be attempts to put in amendments around the statute of limitation for state forces.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is not only unacceptable, it is illegal, the legal advice has already stated that there can be no statute of limitation for one section involved in the conflict here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The consultation is canvassing views on a series of new mechanisms to investigate, document and uncover the truth around killings during the three decades of bloodshed.<\/p>\n

It is based on a blueprint agreed by the Stormont parties and UK and Irish Governments in the 2014 Stormont House Agreement.<\/p>\n

The implementation of the agreed mechanisms, which include a new independent investigation unit and a truth recovery body, has been delayed amid ongoing political discord in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n

The consultation is a bid to inject some momentum into efforts to making those new bodies a reality.<\/p>\n

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