Police chief voices hope of agreement on dealing with legacy of NI’s Troubles
Northern Ireland’s chief constable has expressed hope for a new agreement on how to deal with the legacy of the region’s troubled past.
Jon Boutcher was speaking following a commemoration to remember three musicians from the Miami Showband who were killed in a loyalist ambush close to Newry 50 years ago.
Mr Boutcher was among a crowd who visited a memorial on the Buskhill Road on Thursday afternoon to remember Fran O’Toole, Tony Geraghty and Brian McCoy.
Those gathered included Michael Gallagher, whose son Aiden was killed in the 1998 Omagh bomb, and Eugene Reavey, whose brothers Anthony, John Martin and Brian were shot dead in an attack at their family home in Co Armagh in January 1976.
Mr Boutcher told media: “There are still so many uncertainties for so many people, and that’s not right.
“Everybody knows my position on legacy, I think transparency and openness are critical. The report that I did on Operation Kenova reflects that, and I am very alive to and aware of national security issues. I have been involved with those all of my professional career, I know them better than anybody in policing, so you can do both.
“I think we may be close to coming to a position, and certainly I hope we are, where there will be a new agreement around what the future of legacy looks like, and I’m keen to hear the fruits of the recent talks between the two governments.”
He added: “We have now got to get legacy right.
“At the time that a lot of these cases occurred, half the community didn’t trust police or security forces, which I understand.
“The volume of things that were happening, the murders, the attacks, meant that the security forces couldn’t deal with them. There was then without doubt failures within a number of those investigations. We have now got to put that right.”
Mr Boutcher said he had been invited to attend the commemoration by Miami Showband survivors Des Lee and Stephen Travers.
“I’d consider them to be people who have inspired me, helped me understand legacy here,” he said.
“I’ve spent a significant amount of time with both men and they have taught me a lot, and asked me if I would be here, and they are the example of what humility, courage and actually what this word reconciliation is all about.
“I’m here because it is the very least I could do, to be here.”
Mr Lee paid tribute to Mr Boutcher as he spoke during the event as a special person he would like to thank.
“He is a gentleman who has helped me quite a lot in the past, he’s now the leader of the PSNI and he is here with us today to commemorate the 50th anniversary,” he said.