Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what were the compelling reasons for dealing with the consequences of the Dillon case in High Court and Court of Appeal on the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023 by way of remedial order under section 10 of the Human Rights Act 1998; and whether they will now consider responding to the judgments by primary legislation only.

On 4 December, the Government laid a Draft Remedial Order under section 10 of the Human Rights Act 1998 to address all of the incompatibilities identified by the High Court in Northern Ireland and one of the incompatibilities found by the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland in the Dillon case.

The Government considers a Remedial Order to be the most suitable legislative approach to swiftly address issues that were deemed by the Courts to be incompatible with Human Rights. The government is also committed to introducing legislation which addresses other issues which could not be included in the Remedial Order, when Parliamentary time allows.

The Joint Committee on Human Rights has now published its report into the Remedial Order, and the Government will carefully consider the recommendations and respond in due course.