The Northern Ireland Legacy Bill is “difficult and challenging”, a peer attempting to pass the legislation has said.
Lord Caine also described the immunity element of the Bill, which has faced opposition in Northern Ireland and in the House of Lords, as “contentious”.
Lord Caine is the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and a former special adviser to six Northern Ireland Secretaries.
The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill would give immunity from prosecution for Troubles-related offences to people who co-operated with a truth recovery body.
It would also put an end to future civil cases and inquests.
The immunity element of the Bill was removed by the House of Lords, but reinstated when the proposed legislation returned to the House of Commons on Tuesday.
What the Government has done is tried to make a realistic assessment of what can be delivered for victims and survivors and families of those who’ve lost loved ones during the Troubles, bearing in mind that we're now a quarter of a century after the Belfast agreement, nearly 30 years since the ceasefires, and well over 50 years since the outbreak of the Troubles themselves— Lord Caine
The Bill is opposed by all major Stormont parties, the Irish Government and victims’ campaign groups.
However, Lord Caine said it is a realistic assessment of what can be done two decades after the Good Friday Agreement.
“What the Government has done is tried to make a realistic assessment of what can be delivered for victims and survivors and families of those who’ve lost loved ones during the Troubles, bearing in mind that we’re now a quarter of a century after the Belfast agreement, nearly 30 years since the ceasefires, and well over 50 years since the outbreak of the Troubles themselves,” he told the BBC.
“So it’s a realistic assessment of what can be delivered in circumstances where, frankly, the prospects of prosecutions is going to be vanishingly rare.
“I do appreciate that this is incredibly difficult and challenging legislation.”
Lord Caine said the Bill would not provide a general immunity from prosecution for people who committed crimes during the Troubles, only for those crimes that were dealt with by the Truth Recovery Commission.
Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights states that an inquiry which follows a suspicious death must be designed to lead to criminal proceedings where appropriate.
It's not a general immunity from prosecution, it's in respect of specific incidents— Lord Caine
“The contentious element of this, of course, which is very difficult for people, is the conditional immunity model,” said Lord Caine.
He added: “Under the Government’s proposals, the review mechanism that’s in the legislation would allow for full Article 2-compliant criminal investigation.
“The difference is, if the individual co-operates with the commission fully, and gives an honest and truthful account, which will be validated by the commission, then they will be eligible for immunity in specific circumstances relating to that particular incident.
“It’s not a general immunity from prosecution, it’s in respect of specific incidents.
“If they don’t co-operate to the standard that is expected in legislation with the commission, then the commission won’t grant them immunity and they will still be open to prosecution in the normal way.”
Despite the opposition to the Bill in Northern Ireland and in the House of Lords, Lord Caine said he has made changes to the legislation to try to make it more acceptable.
“When this was going through the House of Lords at committee stage, I did take on board a number of representations from colleagues and also from various groups who argued that the bar was too low,” he said.
“So what I did was bring forward amendments at report stage of the Bill which were agreed by the Commons yesterday to make the immunity process much more robust.
“In particular, to ensure that the commission has to take all reasonable steps to satisfy themselves of the validity and truthfulness of an individual’s account.”
He added: “In circumstances where somebody’s account is found to have been untruthful, I again amended the Bill to make sure that, if they had previously been granted immunity, that immunity can be revoked.”
Families of victims have taken part on numerous protests opposing the Legacy Bill, saying that it deprives their loved ones of justice.
Lord Caine said those affected by incidents being investigated by the commission would be invited to give evidence.
“To raise the point about the views of victims… again, I amended the Bill to ensure that one of the provisions that’s now included is a victims impact statement, which is something that the Victims’ Commissioner in particular asked for, so that victims will be able to submit an impact assessment which will form part of the final report.
“Victims, as a result of the amendments in the Commons yesterday, will also, when a review/investigation is launched, be able to submit a series of questions about an incident which the commission will be under an obligation to the best of its ability to answer, which will then form part of the final report.”
The Bill is not expected to pass before Parliament breaks for summer on Thursday, which Lord Caine said is “entirely down to the volume of legislation that we’ve had to deal with in the House of Lords”.
If it is not passed by Thursday, the legislation will be discussed again when Parliament returns from recess in September.
