Jeffrey Dudgeon (Ed )

Legacy Jeffrey Dudgeon (Ed )

THE SHADOW OF THE PAST

This book is in large part the proceedings of a conference on Legacy Legislation at Malone House in Belfast on 3 March 2018. The speakers and authors published here are from a range of backgrounds and political outlooks. What they have in common is a deep concern over the inadequate and one-sided political, legal and academic agenda on the matter of addressing the Past in Northern Ireland.

They also share a belief in the necessity of the rule of law and the protection of civil liberties.

Legacy: What to do about the Past in Northern Ireland? is refreshingly different from all other publications on the matter, particularly those issued by NGOs and universities. It fills a huge gap which we hope can reshape the agenda and the direction of travel on legislation.

The notional Legacy Bill and its proposed Haass-type bodies are deeply flawed and over-complex, indeed unworkable. They do not serve the needs of victims. If inquests are kept separate from the proposed new Historical Investigations Unit, the whole process will be repeated and becomes unending. We believe it would be preferable that the issues are approached in different, simpler and better ways. To that end, we aim to develop a new consensus on alternative structures to address the Past.