Examination of Witnesses (Questions 420-430)
MR JOHN
CLARKE, MR
EDWARD GODFREY
AND MS
JOY PEDEN
21 FEBRUARY 2005
Q420 Mr Pound: Finally, could you clarify
for me the balance between the consultation with the victims that
has been undertaken by Angela Smith that you referred to and the
consultation with victims and their representatives that you are
involved in? Is that part of the same process?
Mr Clarke: It is all part of the
same process. Angela has been involved in a series of workshops
and we are involved in submissions also in that. For what it is
worth, I do find, and this is not meant to be critical of anyone,
that the same issues are arising and having to be inspected so
that the work I have been doing with groups mirrors the same issues,
so they are complementary in a sense.
Q421 Mr Beggs: Do you think that a victim-centred
approach to reconciliation and dealing with the past is necessary?
Mr Clarke: In general in dealing
with the past I have to say, with respect, that that is an area
that is outside my official responsibility. I am not sure whether
I can progress that terribly far with you.
Q422 Mr Beggs: You do not have an opinion
then?
Mr Clarke: I think the victims
and survivors and how they feel will be highly important to how
you deal with the past because they are the people who have suffered
the most. When you talk about a victim-centred approach, one of
the dangers—and again these are personal opinions—is
that victims might feel that they are central in a sense that
if they do not adopt a strong reconciliation mode themselves they
are somehow holding the process back. I would say personally that
there would be a slight danger of that but it does depend on what
you mean by victim-centred. Victims and survivors are obviously
crucial to reconciliation.
Q423 Chairman: What input does the Victims
Unit have into the government's dealing with the past initiative?
Mr Clarke: At the present moment
in time those are separate considerations.
Q424 Chairman: You have had no input
into that?
Mr Clarke: I have had no input
into the present considerations of that.
Q425 Mr Beggs: Have you consulted individual
victims and victims groups about ways of dealing with Northern
Ireland's past?
Mr Clarke: When Angela Smith was
doing the series of workshops and so on to which I have already
referred that took on board a very wide range of views and consultation
was done because Angela Smith is also a Northern Ireland Office
minister. The consultations at that stage did take into account
a lot of views about how we would deal with the past but those
would be Northern Ireland Office issues.
Q426 Mr Beggs: Are you in a position
to tell us who you have consulted and who you intend to consult?
Mr Clarke: There were several
phases to the consultation which took place. There were adverts
in the local papers inviting opinions on a range of issues and
there were the workshops themselves which were held for anyone
to attend—victims groups, individual victims and other people,
so it was quite an extensive effort consulting as widely as possible.
Mr Beggs: There is a feeling out there
that every minister who does not want to make a decision goes
in for yet another consultation process and that by the time the
reports are coming through they are likely to be moved on and
we go through the same cycle again.
Chairman: And there is a feeling too
that officials who do not want to make a decision invite their
ministers to start a consultation process! That is just a flippant
remark.
Q427 Mr Beggs: Are we near coming to
an end of consultation and arriving at a decision?
Mr Clarke: I think that is a question,
with respect, for the minister.
Chairman: That is for the minister, who
has been advised to delay the response? Sorry. That is not fair.
Q428 Reverend Smyth: Two very quick questions:
one is a question on financing and rolling out. We are now almost
at the end of February. Have you any idea what money will be voted
for next year for the victims groups so that they can plan ahead?
They are in a little bit of a limbo wondering whether they are
going to get it.
Mr Clarke: They are not in limbo
as regards next year because it has already been communicated
to them.
Q429 Reverend Smyth: Communicated to
them directly or communicated to you?
Mr Clarke: Directly through, in
this case, the Community Relations Council. They are managing
the money.
Q430 Reverend Smyth: You did say, quite
rightly, that the victims groups had nothing to do with looking
at the question of guiding ministers concerning the ending of
the past and moving forward. Is there any remit within the department
for dealing with that at all or is it just in limbo at the moment?
Mr Clarke: I would not imply that
it was in limbo. I said it was a Northern Ireland Office area
of responsibility. I am answering for the OFMDFM.
Chairman: Thank you all very much for
coming and answering our questions. We are obviously concentrating
much more on the victims but it is interesting to see what you
are doing and furthermore you have put some thoughts in our minds
as to questions we shall ask the minister in due course, whoever
that may be.
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