Northern Ireland Troubles Bill

What this bill does

Currently at 2nd Reading in the Commons.

Creates a new body to investigate Troubles deaths and share information with families.

This bill replaces the 2023 legacy framework with a renamed and reworked Legacy Commission, plus a separate information-retrieval route for families. It expands powers to investigate Troubles-related deaths and serious harm, hold inquisitorial proceedings, compel information, and publish reports and a historical record. It also restores some inquests, changes how sensitive information is handled, and creates offences for unlawful disclosure.

• Rename and reconstitute the ICRIR as the Legacy Commission with a Legacy Commissioner, 2–5 Commissioners, two Directors of Investigations, judicial panel members, a Chief Executive Officer and an oversight board.
• Set the Commission’s main functions to investigate Troubles-related deaths and serious harm, hold inquisitorial proceedings, publish personal statements and produce a single historical record of Troubles deaths.
• Give Directors of Investigations and designated officers powers to require information, documents or other things from relevant authorities and to exercise police-style powers where designated.
• Create procedures for family members, public authorities and prosecutors to trigger investigations and for the Commission to allocate cases and produce final reports.
• Provide a statutory regime for inquisitorial proceedings, including public access, core participant status, restricted sessions for sensitive material and publication of final reports.
• Set rules on compelled material, making it generally inadmissible in criminal proceedings against the person who provided it, with limited exceptions.
• Create protections and offence provisions for sensitive, prejudicial and protected international information, including Secretary of State notices and prohibition decisions.
• Preserve the ICIR route for family requests for information, with limits on use of that information in legal proceedings.
• Require work plans, annual reports and independent performance reviews, and allow winding up of the Commission under safeguards.
• Include transitional and consequential changes, including retrospective treatment of some Interim Custody Orders.

The stage line is the same Parliament bill record as the heading. The summary is AI-generated and not independently reviewed. Report an error.

Progress

1. 1st reading · Commons
2. 2nd reading · Commons
3. Programme motion · Commons
4. Money resolution · Commons
5. Carry-over motion · Commons
6. Bill reintroduced · Commons
7. Carry-over motion · Commons
8. Committee of the whole House · Commons
9. Report stage · Commons