Chief Commissioner for ICRIR announced

The ICRIR will be established once the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill receives Royal Assent.Prior to Royal Assent, Sir Declan will begin preparatory work to design the body.

The primary roles of the ICRIR will be to provide information to families, victims, and survivors of Troubles-related deaths and serious injury, and to promote reconciliation.

The ICRIR will have full police powers to conduct criminal investigations as part of any review and will be able to produce findings following any review, in a similar way to an inquest. In order to maximise the potential to recover information, it will also be able, following thorough due process, to grant immunity from prosecution.

The independence of the ICRIR is therefore crucial. It will operate separately from Government and be led by an independent Board of Commissioners. 

Sir Declan said:

“I recognise the importance of this role. My experience of the current system of dealing with Northern Ireland’s past means that I know we need to try to do things differently. I know that trust and confidence in the system that serves the people is vital. Our society deserves to move forward and embrace a shared future.

“The importance of reconciliation is known by all those who have been impacted by the Troubles and its legacy. For each and every person that will mean something different. I want to engage with all those affected so that the new Commission can be designed in the way that best serves their and Northern Ireland society’s needs.”

Sir Declan will begin work from early June and his initial priority is to engage with a wide range of people and groups across Northern Ireland about how he proposes to build the new organisation in a way that can take their needs into account, listens to their experiences and promotes reconciliation. 

He will also lead work to identify other Commissioners and design how the new body will carry out its roles once the Bill has become law. These will be important steps before the ICRIR can begin receiving requests for reviews and investigations.

Northern Ireland Office ministers are leading on the progress of the Bill through Parliament. Sir Declan’s work will not include proposals for changes to the legislation, as that is properly a matter for Parliament.

Sir Declan will also lead the process to recruit the Commissioner for Investigations, and provide a recommended candidate to the Secretary of State.

Biography

Sir Declan Morgan was called to the Bar of Northern Ireland in 1976 and became a Queen’s Counsel in 1993. Between 2002 and 2004, he was Senior Crown Counsel for Northern Ireland. He also served for a time as Judge-In-Residence at the School of Law of Queen’s University Belfast.

In 2004, Sir Declan was appointed a judge of the High Court and knighted. In 2007, he was appointed to the Family Division of the Court, and in 2008 moved to hearing cases for judicial review. He succeeded Sir Brian Kerr as Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland on 3 July 2009. Sir Declan retired as Lord Chief Justice in July 2021. 

In August 2021 Sir Declan was appointed a Supplementary Panel member of the UK Supreme Court.  In May 2022 he was appointed by the Prime Minister as a Judicial Commissioner to support the work of Sir Brian Leveson, the Investigatory Powers Commissioner. 

Notes to editors

The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill will establish a new body, the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (“the ICRIR”). The ICRIR is to be led by a Board consisting of a number of Commissioners, which will have collective responsibility for setting the strategic direction of the ICRIR to enable it to deliver its functions which are: 

• To carry out reviews of deaths that were caused by conduct forming part of the Troubles; 
• To carry out reviews of other harmful conduct forming part of the Troubles;
• To produce reports on the findings of each of the reviews of deaths and other harmful conduct;
• To determine whether to grant persons immunity from prosecution for serious or connected Troubles-related offences other than Troubles-related sexual offences;
• To refer deaths that were caused by conduct forming part of the Troubles, and other harmful conduct forming part of the Troubles, to prosecutors; and 
• To produce a record of deaths that were caused by conduct forming part of the Troubles

Sir Declan will not be undertaking media interviews at this time, but bids will be considered from June.

The ICRIR website is now live.

At this stage, the ICRIR is not receiving submissions, evidence or requests from the public. A formal announcement will be made to open this process in due course.

Anyone wishing to apply for the role of Commissioner for Investigations can find out more about the role and how to apply using the position specification. The application deadline is being extended to 1 June so that the Chief Commissioner can conclude forming the panel, and be available to meet with potential candidates before application.

Before the Bill becomes law, a dedicated secretariat will provide independent support to Sir Declan in his work. It will be established as a separate unit of the Northern Ireland Office, with a separate budget and staffing, and will not report to Northern Ireland Office ministers.