Understanding the on the runs debate
Former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Peter Hain has described the on the run scheme as “indispensable to the historic peace process we achieved in 2007.”
Writing in Progress Mr Hain said; “I was part of a government in which I am proud to have served as secretary of state for Northern Ireland that had the lead responsibility along with colleagues in the Irish government to negotiate and deliver a political settlement following, not decades but centuries, of division and, at times deadly, conflict.”
Echoing former Prime Minister Tony Blair who gave evidence to the Northern Ireland select committee on Tuesday, Mr Hain continued: “It [the peace process] often involved taking difficult decisions in real time, but what I am absolutely certain of is that at all times those were decisions taken honourably and within the law.”
“And we can unpick and pick at aspects of that process as much as we like.”
“But if we analyse them in isolation as if the world is other than it was then, I am not sure where that will take us.”
You can read the full article here
Published by Progress, 13 January 2015