Crosswords1 min ago
Should Gerry Adams Be Compensated?
PM to pay damages to Gerry Adams
Outcry from peers and IRA bomb victims as PM’s decision to repeal Troubles legislation means former Sinn Fein leader is in line for payout
Answers
“If he's entitled to compensation under the law then he should receive it.”
But he’s not entitled to it. The government is considering changing the law. The reason for that is our old friend, the European Convention on Human Rights. Northern Ireland’s High Court ruled that the current legislation, which prevents Mr Adams from receiving compensation, is incompatible with the ECHR. There is also an argument that the order for his detention was not personally authorised by the then Home Secretary.
“I take it that all those against him receiving any compensation would be quite happy to be incarcerated illegally by the UK government,…”
But he wasn’t incarcerated illegally. He was detained under the UK law which prevailed at the time.
“That law was only enacted in 2023, so what was the situation before 2023 and why didn't Adams claim compensation say in 2005 (under Labour) or 2015 (under the Conservatives)?”
Because his eligibility for compensation did not arise until 2020, when a Supreme Court ruling said that he was. The government rejected that ruling and brought in legislation to deny him (and about 400 others) compensation.
What seems to be missing in all of this is that at the time of what are quaintly called “The Troubles” a terrorist organisation was effectively waging war on the UK, its government and its people. I know because, purely by chance (and the ineptitude of British Rail) I fortuitously escaped being blown up by a bomb planted in a litter bin at London’s Victoria station. It was only because my usual train was cancelled that I am escaped unscathed. Some people whom I usually met on the train were caught up in the blast. One person was killed and 30 or 40 others injured – some seriously.
This is not a question of compensating somebody who had been wrongly imprisoned. The IRA openly declared that they were at war with the UK government (and by extension, its people). As such normal rules did not apply and special measures were introduced. The government took steps to spare the population from the indiscriminate activities of IRA members, among which was interring people whom they believed would cause harm. Paying them compensation would be rather like doing so to POWs who were interred during WW2.
He was detained under the Detention of Terrorists (NI) Order 1972. The argument, as I understand it, is whether the order for his detention was legitimate because it had not (apparently) been considered and signed off personally by the Home Secretary.
Mr Adams is on record as saying "...the policy of internment "set aside the normal principles of law and was based on a blunt and brutal piece of coercive legislation."
Not quite so blunt and brutal as planting bombs in litter bins on busy railway stations or beneath the bath in a hotel room being used by the senior members of the UK government.
I'm none too concerned about the niceties of Mr Adams' incarceration. Living in London during that period of guerilla warfare was not particularly pleasant and I welcomed any move the UK government took to curtail the activities of people like Mr Adams.
It is nothing less than I would expect of the current government to consider shelling out "compensation" to Mr Adams and his like. It's just a shame they don't do likewise for others who have suffered far greater inconveniences.
Funny how all the Tory Supporters here are failing to mention the £5bn taxpayers money that Cameron paid to terrorist supporting DUP as a bribe to retain power. Not to mention subsequent support by leading Tories for Ian Paisley and the DUP.
Obviously the bitterness at their record rejection by the electorate still rankles. They lost, they should man up and accept it.
//Government will try to block Gerry Adams payout - PM//
https:/
:o/
“Funny how all the Tory Supporters here are failing to mention the £5bn taxpayers money that Cameron paid to terrorist supporting DUP as a bribe to retain power. Not to mention subsequent support by leading Tories for Ian Paisley and the DUP.”
As far as I can recall, I don’t believe the DUP planted bombs in litter bins or under bath panels in hotels. Apart from that, I think you will find it was Mrs May rather than Mr Cameon who concluded a “confidence & supply” agreement with the DUP following the 2017 GE. Mrs May provided the “supply” (additional funds for Northern Ireland, which I assume you term a “bribe”) and the DUP provided the “confidence” (a pledge to support Mrs May’s minority government in crucial votes in the HoC).
That’s a somewhat different proposition to the ludicrous “Good Friday Agreement” which guaranteed pseudo-politicians who had, without doubt, supported the use of severe and indiscriminate violence to achieve their aims.
I think it is fairly common ground that Mr Adams was one of them. He was an absentee MP at Westminster for 23 years – an institution in which he refused to participate.
Among the rewards for his Damascene renunciation of violence was a seat in the Northern Ireland Assembly for twelve years. That Assembly – born out of the Good Friday Agreement – operated on the strict basis of “power sharing” and, mainly as a result of the participants being unable to agree how to share power, it has been suspended six times since it was set up 25 years ago. So lengthy were some of these suspensions that, despite it being seemingly vital to secure peace in the Province, it has been inoperative for almost 40% of its existence.
This was no problem for Mr Adams. He was a member for almost five of the nine years it was inoperative. So whoever determines how much compo Mr Adams is due, perhaps they might consider that he received a decent salary for 28 years for doing largely nothing.
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