The Human Consequences of Armed Conflict
by Marie Smyth
From: A Farewell to Arms? From 'long war' to long peace in Northern Ireland edited by Michael Cox, Adrian Guelke and Fiona Stephen
Published by Manchester University Press, 2000
Bloomfield published his report in May 1998. In his introduction he wrote:
In more than twenty five years of public service, I have never been asked to undertake a task of such human sensitivity. The letters I have read and the stories I have heard in carrying out the work of the commission will be burned in my memory forever.
The report itself did not make firm recommendations on a truth commission for Northern Ireland, and made a series of exhortations to employers, social services and other agencies to improve their practices in relation to those bereaved and injured. Significantly, Bloomfield recommended that: "victims must, at barest minimum, be as well served as former prisoners in terms of their rehabilitation, future employment, etc." Bloomfield also recommended a review of the compensation scheme. The report launch was accompanied by an announcement of a £5m down payment of funding by government for work with those bereaved and injured in the troubles. The amount of money allocated was disappointingly low, but some comfort was taken that it was only a down payment.
At the launch of the Bloomfield report, the secretary of state also announced the appointment of Adam Ingram as Minister for Victims. However, Ingram already held the position of Minister for Security, and in his first months as Minister for Victims, his security role seemed to occupy his time almost exclusively. It was perhaps ill-conceived to give Ingram a second area of responsibility on top of the heavy responsibility of security. Whatever the official rationale, the appointment was interpreted in some quarters as yet another signal that the victims issue was not a high priority for the government.
On 20 May, the Minister for Justice and Law Reform in the Irish government, John O'Donoghue, appointed former tanaiste John Wilson to review services to those affected by the Troubles, who were living in the Republic of Ireland. A Victims' Commission was established in Dublin, and began work in the subsequent months.
Meanwhile, in the aftermath of the Good Friday Agreement, a referendum was conducted in which 71 per cent of voters supported the agreement. The anti agreement forces -- the Democratic Unionist Party and the Independent Unionist Party - seemed vanquished.
In June 1998, the Victims Liaison Unit at Stormont was established to "take forward the process of identifying and prioritising a package of measures to help victims, their families and support groups." A small team of civil servants from various departments was deployed for the purpose.
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