The suffering of those who survived attacks or lost loved ones in the Troubles is of primary importance here (over half of those killed were bystanders, the majority of those injured had nothing to do with the bloody murder match).

The release of prisoners under the Good Friday Agreement was perhaps one of the most significant and certainly most difficult moments of the peace process. This amnesty was broadened in 2005 with the On The Runs Legislation which absolved PIRA volunteers convicted in their absence to return to NI without fear of prosecution. The OTR legislation also absolved members of the RUC/UDR/B-Specials and so saved them from prosecution for crimes committed while in uniform before that date.

However even in this the nature of the participating organisations played a crucial part. The judicial system has mechanisms for dropping charges. However when the families of those exiled from Northern Ireland by the Provisionals asked if they could return home the response from McGuinness was that it was up to the individuals to decide if they would be safe in the ‘community’. No doubt the cautionary tale of Frank Hegarty was prominent in the minds of those in question.

A Truth and Reconciliation Commission (usually the South African model) has been suggested by a number of sources. However such a model relies on free and frank participation from ALL the participants to have any credibility. Considering that you’d be hard pushed to find a single person familiar with NI who believes Gerry Adams when he says that he was never in the PIRA, there is no credibility at all in SF’s calls for a truth an reconciliation process.

Indeed previous suggestions have often been vetoed by Sinn Fein quoting the need to maintain the PIRA’s “code of honour” and not divulge what really went on. Those who have put pen to paper to tell their story (Brendan Hughes, Eamon Collins, Richard O’Rawe etc) have done so against the wishes of the republican paramilitaries and have been denounced respectively as works of “alcoholics”, “traitors” and the “mentally ill”. Similarly from the Loyalist perspective the accounts of Gusty Spence, David Irvine and Robert Black leave many questions unanswered and present accounts which have proven in many cases to be simply untrue.

The Historical Enquiries Team, the Police Ombudsman and the Consultative Group on the Past have all been trying to work around this – avoiding attempts at political expediency while sifting through fact and fiction.

We also have to ask what the effects would be of simply drawing a line under the past. In reality the reports and findings to date (focusing as they do on the more individually visible events of the troubles) are reiterating and codifying what is common knowledge. The reception they have been met with show that they’re not likely to cause any serious political change (unless Martin Ingrams claims are true) and forgetting the past isn’t really an option as much of the legacy is still with us in the form of a highly segregated society and of course for those individuals most affected by it. Ultimately is up to the victims and survivors to decide how best they wish to deal with it. The best we can do is offer our unconditional support.