Frequently asked questions

The Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery was established in December 2023 to provide information to families, victims and survivors of Troubles/Conflict-related deaths and serious injury and promote reconciliation.

The Commission has been operational since May 2024.

The Chief Commissioner is Sir Declan Morgan. The Commissioner for Investigations is Peter Sheridan. In addition to a Chief Executive Officer, there are four non-executive Commissioners. You can find out more about our Commissioners on our Board page.

The Commission operates independently of the Northern Ireland Executive, the UK Government and any other body or outside interests. The Commission’s staff are recruited openly from a wide range of backgrounds, with proper consideration of any potential conflicts of interest. The Commission is able to access funding for investigations based on its needs.
 
Commissioners’ outside interests, gifts and hospitality registers are published regularly.
 
All Commissioners and staff adhere to the Commission’s Code of Conduct.

The Commission’s headquarters is in the late stages of design and fit-out to ensure that it can support meetings with victims, survivors and families in a secure and sensitive way. We expect that this will be ready for full use from the autumn but until then we will not be able to have visitors to those offices. The Commission’s Case Support Workers will be available to engage with requesting individuals at locations that suit them across Northern Ireland.

The Commission’s annual budget is set out in our Annual Work Plan. We have the ability to access the funding we need to carry out investigations as we see fit through a special mechanism called Annually Managed Expenditure.
 

No.  As a result of the High Court’s ruling in Dillon, conditional immunity was disapplied. On 29 July 2024, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland announced that the Government was dropping its appeal in a number of areas, including those relating to the conditional immunity provisions. The Commission will therefore not consider requests for conditional immunity.

The Belfast High Court has confirmed that the Commission is independent and is capable of carrying out investigations which are compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights. The Commission is therefore properly and lawfully established. 
 
We recognise that the Court of Appeal will now be considering the matter and will assist the court in any way we can. We will also want to reflect any areas that the Court provides judgment on in our policies and practices. In the meantime we are under a duty to follow the law.

The Commission has adopted a Trauma and Resiliency Informed Model. When individuals approach the Commission, they may do so for different reasons and with different hopes and expectations. Through the Case Support Team and dedicated Case Support Workers, the Commission will work with each victim, survivor and family to explore the range of options open to them and support them to make informed decisions about how they want to proceed. You can find out more about how we work in the Our Investigations section.

You can contact us by telephone, email or Freepost. Details of how to contact us are available on our Contact page.

Yes. The Commission will carry out investigations into Troubles/Conflict-related deaths and serious injuries. The Commission will determine what type of investigation will be appropriate or necessary in different circumstances – this could be a Liability investigation that will be able to lead to a criminal prosecution where judged appropriate. It may also be a Focused investigation or a Culpability investigation.
More information on the different types of investigations is available under Our investigations.

The Commission is recruiting people to fill a wide range of corporate and operational roles. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds, to ensure a diverse workforce that represents all communities and interests.
 
All our roles are advertised on our website. The Commission also uses a number of other recruitment platforms, depending on the specialist needs of the role.
 
The Commission also takes secondments from other organisations, such as police forces, other investigative bodies, and the wider public sector.