Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (UUP)

My Lords, I will speak very briefly. A lot has been said here tonight but the one thing we are absolutely sure of in Northern Ireland is that the vast majority of victims of the Troubles will never see an end or a resolution to their issue. That is the sad reality we live in. My second point is that there will be no agreement as to the blame game there. What is turning out to be a one-sided process, where we are hauling the former security forces before the courts and inquests while the terrorists seem to be getting away without any retribution, is not right either. Let us not forget that, over the last 25 years, a number of those in government in Northern Ireland have been former IRA terrorists. I hear all the stories that the only people who have the information are the security forces —that is not right. Some of those people in government, some of those people walking the streets of Northern Ireland, who were openly members of the IRA and other terrorist organisations, know what happened in many of those cases. They should be compelled to come forward and provide that information to the innocent victims of Northern Ireland. That is not happening. Why? Maybe some people are afraid that it will ruin the process we have. Maybe there is an approach to it almost of cowardice. You cannot continue to not face up to the reality that those people know what happened and should be bringing that information forward to give the loved ones of those innocent victims some degree of comfort that they do not have at the moment. I noticed, quite recently, that the courts have also ruled on the issue of collusion and collusive behaviour, where the Northern Ireland Retired Police Officers Association had to take cases to stop the police ombudsman referring first to collusion and then to collusive behaviour. I welcome those judgments. But why is it that we continue to talk about the information that the Government hold but not talk about the information that those terrorists hold—we all know who they are, some are in government, many walk in the streets—and could give to help our loved ones?