Young
Unionists

Jeffrey Donaldson’s claim that the DUP are going to change the definition of a victim is nothing more than a political sham with a just sprinkling of public deception. They know that if they tried to introduce the amendment, Sinn Fein will block it without a second thought.

If the DUP had genuine victim’s interests at heart then they would start by admitting and then explaining why they failed to support the Ulster Unionists attempts to change it over a year ago.

At present the current definition of a victim includes all those who were injured, both physically and psychologically, due to an incident during the Troubles. That means the people killed and maimed in the Shankill bomb are victims; however it also means Sean Kelly, the terrorist who planted the bomb, is also a victim. Call it a hierarchy of victims if you want, but Sean Kelly is no more a victim than DUP are not panicking about next years General Election.

When the legislation regarding the introduction for the four victim commissioners was going Stormont the opportunity arose to change the definition of victim there and then. Indeed the DUP Ministers were co-sponsors of the Bill, even though they missed ball at the beginning they still had time to table amendments however they did nothing. The Ulster Unionists were then faced with the impossible logistical task of amending the Bill. However that doesn’t mean they didn’t try; they tabled a number of amendments (which unsprisingly didn’t even get past the Speaker’s Office) and then even brought it to their Executive colleagues.

So it’s a good thing that the DUP have at least started to pay attention to an issue which even a few months ago they tried to actively avoid.  We’ll see how far this gets, however the cynic in me sees this as cheap politicking instead of a genuine attempt to change the definition.