The new UK Government came to power in July with a manifesto commitment to repeal and replace the Legacy Act introduced by the Tories and to return to working bilaterally with the Irish Government. This followed Boris Johnson’s Government unilaterally reneging on the (UK-Ireland) Stormont House Agreement, and instead pursing an agenda through the Legacy Act of shutting down the ‘Package of Measures’ of existing NI legacy mechanisms and replacing them with the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR).

Labour in power however unilaterally announced an intention to retain the ICRIR, committing to some reforms in regarding its independence. The Irish Government, who retain an inter-state case challenge against the Legacy Act, including on the question of ICRIR independence, have called for substantive ‘root and branch’ reform of the ICRIR to make it ECHR compliant. The Court of Appeal has also recently found that the ‘national security veto’ over ICRIR reports to families and the ICRIR’s proposals to emulate inquests are ECHR incompatible.

This report examines what substantive root and branch reform of the ICRIR might look like and whether it would be sufficient to gain public confidence and ensure ECHR compatibility.