Removing block on Adams’ compensation bid will see ‘pay day’ for ex-detainees
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Removing a block on former Troubles internees, such as Gerry Adams, seeking compensation will deliver a taxpayer-funded pay day for ex-detainees, a think tank has claimed. Policy Exchange has published a report criticising the Government’s proposed repeal of legislation that had put a stop to such civil claims.
The relevant sections of the Legacy Act had been agreed by Parliament in 2023 in response to a Supreme Court judgment in 2020 that paved the way for former Sinn Fein leader Mr Adams to secure compensation over his internment without trial in the early 1970s.
Mr Adams won his appeal to overturn historical convictions for two attempted prison breaks, after he was interned without trial in 1973 at Long Kesh internment camp, also known as Maze Prison, near Lisburn. The Supreme Court ruled that his detention was unlawful because the interim custody order (ICO) used to initially detain him had not been “considered personally” by then secretary of state for Northern Ireland Willie Whitelaw.
At the time of the case, the previous government contended that the ICOs were lawful due to a long-standing convention, known as the Carltona principle, where officials and junior ministers routinely act in the name of the Secretary of State. Mr Adams subsequently successfully challenged a decision to deny an application for compensation for his detention.
