Regulations around pensions for people injured during Troubles splits parties

Sinn Fein condemned the scheme, which excludes those injured in an incident that they were convicted of playing a part in, and unionists welcomed it.

Northern Ireland’s parties are divided over newly published regulations for a pension scheme to look after those severely injured in the Troubles.

The scheme will be open to applicants injured between 1966 and 2010.

However, those injured in an incident that they were convicted of playing a part in will not be eligible.

This represents a shift from the definition of a victim contained in the Victims and Survivors Order, which includes anyone who has been “physically or psychologically injured as a result of or in consequence of a conflict-related incident”, but made no reference to an individual’s culpability.

The 1998 Omagh bomb by dissident republicans which killed 29 people and injured at least 200 was one of the most shocking of the atrocities in Northern Ireland’s troubled past (PA)

Payments to successful applicants will be backdated to 2014 when the Stormont House Agreement first proposed a pension for the injured.

In some cases, a relative of those injured may qualify for the scheme.

While many applications are expected to be straightforward, a judge will chair a committee with discretion to decide on those cases that are less clear-cut.

The regulations are being published by the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) and put into law by Westminster, but the pensions scheme will be implemented by the Northern Ireland Executive.

The funding for the scheme is expected to come out of the region’s block grant from Westminster.