Former Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams will receive taxpayer-funded compensation if government plans to repeal the Legacy Act go ahead, a think tank has claimed.
Mr Adams, 76, is currently blocked from receiving compensation over his detention in prison without trial in the 1970s, despite winning an appeal in the Supreme Court in 2020 to overturn historical convictions for two attempted prison breaks.
Sections of the Legacy Act agreed by parliament in 2023 in response to the Supreme Court ruling have blocked Mr Adams from receiving compensation.
But after the High Court in Belfast ruled in February last year that provisions of the act were incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), Sir Keir’s government have signalled their intention to repeal certain sections.
Hilary Benn, the Northern Ireland secretary, said that the decision to repeal the law underlined “the government’s absolute commitment to the Human Rights Act”.
Policy Exchange, a right-wing London-based think tank, has released a paper criticising the move. The paper has been backed by 16 peers, including shadow attorney general Lord Wolfson KC.
He said the government’s claims that this repeal signals a commitment to the Human Rights Act “makes no sense and warrants the sharp criticism that this paper ably provides”.
The Supreme Court ruled that Mr Adams’s detention was unlawful because the interim custody order (ICO) used to initially detain him had not been “considered personally” by then secretary of state for Northern Ireland Willie Whitelaw.
At the time of the case, the previous government contended that the ICOs were lawful due to a long-standing convention, known as the Carltona principle, where officials and junior ministers routinely act in the name of the secretary of state.
Mr Adams subsequently successfully challenged a decision to deny an application for compensation for his detention.
However, sections 46 and 47 of the Legacy Act stopped such payouts to Mr Adams and other former internees.
The act retrospectively validated the ICOs to make them lawful and halted civil claims related to the orders.
At the time, the then UK government said the legislation would prevent up to 400 compensation bids by former internees. These are the sections the government is now seeking to repeal.
In response to the paper, a government spokesperson said: “The last government’s approach to legacy was almost universally opposed in Northern Ireland.
“During the Legacy Act’s passage through parliament, that government belatedly agreed to an amendment on the custody orders, despite the original ruling having been made all the way back in 2020.
“Last year, that amendment was ruled by the Northern Ireland courts to be unlawful and therefore it needs to be repealed.”
