Queen Elizabeth said the Government plans to end legacy investigations in Northern Ireland during the official reopening of Parliament.

uring Tuesday’s speech, the Queen also said measures will be brought forward to strengthen the Stormont Assembly.

Plans were leaked last week that the Government planned to ‘draw a line’ under unsolved Troubles killings.

Victims and politicians expressed anger for the amnesty that would end future criminal investigations.

Sinn Fein MP John Finucane, whose father Pat was murdered by the UDA in 1989 called the plans for a statute of limitations “an outright attack on the justice system and the rule of law”.

Chief Constable Simon Byrne said while he had no advance sight of what the Government is planning, the PSNI had “consistently” voiced its support for the Stormont House Agreement mechanisms.

DUP MP Gavin Robinson added that veterans should not be subjected to a “cycle of reinvestigations” in the absence of new evidence. However, he insisted that access to justice was a vital principle dealing with the past.

Accompanying Government papers to the Queen’s Speech said the new legislation will be set out in the coming weeks.

The papers stated: “The Government is fully committed to introducing legislation to address the legacy of the Troubles in Northern Ireland and will confirm further details in the coming weeks.

“It is clear that the current system for dealing with the legacy of the past is not working well for anybody, with criminal investigations increasingly unlikely to deliver successful criminal justice outcomes and failing to obtain answers for the majority of victims and families.

“The Government will introduce a legacy package that delivers better outcomes for victims, survivors and veterans, focuses on information recovery and reconciliation, and ends the cycle of investigations.”

In her address to the House of Lords on Tuesday, the Queen said: “My ministers will promote the strength and integrity of the Union. Measures will be brought forward to strengthen devolved government in Northern Ireland and address the legacy of the past.”

The Times and Daily Telegraph reported the statute of limitations plan last week.

They said the bar on prosecutions would apply to the vast majority of Troubles killings, though an exemption would apply to war crimes, such as torture, according to the papers.

The Stormont House proposals included a new independent investigation unit to re-examine all unsolved killings.

Belfast Telegraph