UK and Irish Governments announce legacy framework to enable truth for families of the Troubles

• UK Government to replace failed Legacy Act and replace the ICRIR with a reformed Legacy Commission to find answers for families - the unfinished business of the GFA
• Irish authorities to provide the fullest possible co-operation with UK investigations, and investigate all unresolved Troubles-related incidents in Ireland.
• UK Government will legislate to end the former Government's immunity plan for terrorists
• There will be a new package of six protections for veterans 

The UK and Irish Governments will today announce a joint framework to address the legacy of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Details were announced by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Hilary Benn MP and the Tánaiste Simon Harris TD at Hillsborough Castle on September 19, 2025.

Families of victims, including those who never came home from service in Northern Ireland, will have a fair, proportionate and transparent system to seek answers.

The UK Government will repeal and replace the Legacy Act, including  ending the undeliverable promise of immunity for terrorists and put in place six new protections and rights for veterans. 

These will ensure no veteran who carried out their duty properly will be forced to face endless legal uncertainty. All witnesses including veterans will be treated with dignity and respect.

More than 1,100 families across the UK, including over 200 Armed Forces families, had investigations into the deaths of their loved ones shut down on 1 May 2024 by the Legacy Act.

Through the new legislation and other commitments the UK Government will:

• Fundamentally reform the ICRIR, strengthening its independence, governance and powers and putting in place a new conflict of interest policy. Following these reforms, the body will be renamed the Legacy Commission.
• Repeal the Legacy Act's immunity scheme, ending the prospect of immunity being granted to terrorists.
• Allow the small number of inquests that were stopped in their tracks by the Legacy Act to resume, with other previously directed inquests subject to a robust  independent assessment by the Solicitor General. There will be no announcement of further new inquests – the reformed Legacy Commission will become the primary route.
• Put in place six new rights, safeguards and protections, including through legislation, for any Northern Ireland veteran asked to engage with a legacy process.

As part of the agreement, the Irish Government will:

• Ensure, through new legislation, the fullest possible co-operation of the relevant Irish authorities with the Legacy Commission. This will  enable many more families - including families of service personnel killed by acts of terrorism - to finally obtain answers about those incidents. 
• Establish a new legacy unit in An Garda Síochána, and investigate all unresolved Troubles-related incidents in Ireland.
• For the first time, provide funding to support legacy mechanisms. 

The package of rights and actions to do right by our veterans, will ensure they are supported throughout any legacy process whilst lifting the cloud of suspicion from those who served honourably.

1. Right to stay at home - Witnesses cannot be forced to travel to Northern Ireland to give evidence to the Commission or to an inquest.

2. Protection from repeated investigations - The reformed Legacy Commission will not needlessly duplicate previous investigative work that veterans may have already participated in and will not be required to provide unnecessary testimony on historical context that has already been established.

3. Protection in old age - The Commission must consider the health and wellbeing of witnesses, when considering whether it would be appropriate to require them to give evidence including whether it would be inappropriate for them to give evidence at all.

4. Right to seek anonymity - Veterans can seek anonymity when giving information

5. Protection from cold calling - Veterans will be contacted through proper protocols with Ministry of Defence support.

6. Right for your voice to be heard - There will be a statutory advisory group that will provide an opportunity for the voices of all those victims and survivors of the Troubles to be heard, including those from a service background. In addition to this, the MoD will put forward an independent advisor with operational experience to support investigations.

In addition to this, the Ministry of Defence will put forward a standard witness statement and provide an independent advisor with operational experience to support investigations.

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Hilary Benn, said:

As Secretary of State I have been determined to help those families, who lost loved ones in the Troubles, including relatives of the families of British service people who did not come home, to find the answers they have long been seeking. 

The previous government's flawed, undeliverable and widely opposed Legacy Act has caused great pain and anguish to many people in Northern Ireland.

I believe that this framework, underpinned by new co-operation from both our governments, represents the best way forward to finally make progress on the unfinished business of the Good Friday agreement. 

And I hope that having read what we are proposing, the communities who were most  affected by the Troubles will see this as a way forward in which they can have confidence, and will therefore give this plan a fair chance.

Minister for the Armed Forces, Al Carns MP said:

As a serving reservist and after 24 years in the Marines, I know that if something were to happen to me, I would want my family to have the truth as to what happened. The reality is mothers and fathers, and brothers and sisters of 100s of loved ones who gave their lives to protect their nation during the Troubles have had that quest for truth cut short by the last Government's failed legislation.  

The Tories' Legacy Act left those families, and our veterans in a legal wild west. We are replacing the Legacy Act to allow service families access to the truth and closure, while putting in place specific and real protections for our veterans and Armed Forces community, to ensure the process can never again be used as a punishment. We will ensure the rights of those who served their nation so honourably will be protected. 

Earlier, Hilary Benn and Simon Harris met with the Victims and Survivors Forum and with representatives of the Pat Finucane Centre, Relatives for Justice, SEFF and WAVE.

Both governments will soon bring forward new legislation which will put in place mechanisms based on the principles of the 2014 Stormont House Agreement. 

The two governments will also establish a new cross-jurisdictional Independent Commission for Information Recovery (ICIR), as was originally agreed under the Stormont House Agreement, offering families another means of finding out what happened.

These new legacy processes will help deliver the Good Friday Agreement's unrealised ambition to “address and acknowledge the suffering of victims and survivors”.

Lt Gen Sir Nick Pope, Chair of Cobseo, the Confederation of Service Charities, said:

Addressing the legacy of the Troubles in Northern Ireland continues to be a deeply challenging and complex area. As the Confederation of Service Charities, Cobseo welcomes the development of the safeguards that have been put in place to offer protection to those within the armed forces community who are affected by legacy issues. Relevant charities in the armed forces sector stand by and are ready to support any veteran or family member who require support or assistance.