This was part of the previous Conservative government’s Legacy Act which was approved in 2023, but the High Court in Belfast ruled parts of the Act were incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in 2024. The Irish Government also launched an interstate legal case against the UK, claiming the Legacy Act breached the ECHR. In terms of veterans, he said the Government had “put in place a number of protections”. “What we are trying to do here is to create a system that everyone in Northern Ireland can have confidence in because the last Legacy Act failed to achieve that. “And how can you move on in terms of legacy, when you’ve got a system in place that a lot of people don’t trust and won’t participate?

Source: The Herald January 22, 2026 18:49 UTC