Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, on what evidential basis he said that Northern Ireland courts had determined that the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery independence has adequate (a) powers and (b) independence to undertake human rights compliant investigations.

The Court of Appeal recognised the structural independence and wide powers of the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR). The Court was clear that ICRIR has the capability to replicate investigations that were previously with the police and the Ombudsman, and to fulfil human rights obligations in those cases.

The Government has committed to introducing legislation to further strengthen ICRIR’s independence and powers, and to ensure that ICRIR can discharge the State’s ECHR obligations in all cases where that is required, including cases that would otherwise be inquests, and to restore inquests that were previously halted.