Tony Blair with Sinn Fein leaders Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams
FORMER Prime Minister Tony Blair has today told MPs that there was “no secret deal” over letters to on-the-run IRA members.
And he said he feared the worst about the IRA if he did not sort the OTR issue once and for all.
The former Labour Party leader faced a grilling this afternoon from MPs on the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee in London about the administrative scheme dealing with republicans.
He admitted that Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams was pushing him to resolve the issue, as convicted prisoners had been let out of jail on licence under the Good Friday Agreement.
And Mr Blair accepted that he “grew to like Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness” during the peace talks process.
The scheme came to light in February last year when senior Donegal Sinn Fein member John Downey’s trial at the Old Bailey in London collapsed after it emerged during an abuse of process application that he had received a letter from the NIO saying he was not wanted by police in Northern Ireland or in mainland Britain.
Mr Blair told the Committee about the scheme: “This was not a private arrangement. There was no secret. There was no deal.”
On the Downey case, he told MPs: “The Downey case was a mistake. It was put in the former category, not the latter category.
“I accept the critique in (Lady Justice) Hallett review but I don’t think the process was wrong or unlawful. The scheme evolved over time.
East Belfast Alliance MP Naomi Long said the “secret deal” had caused “a lack of trust between parties”.
She added: “The lack of clarity and transparency has compounded the offence to victims.”
Mr Blair said he accepted that the hurt caused to families of victim was “very real” but added: “There was no secret deal.
“We were trying to make sure there were no more victims; it was difficult and on a knife edge throughout.
“If I said I was not going to deal with OTR, I would have had a serious consequence on our hands.”
North Down MP Lady Sylvia Hermon said political parties, like the UUP, SDLP and PUP were unaware of the OTR administrative scheme.
She asked Mr Blair: “Did you tell the late David Ervine about this scheme?”
He replied: “I didn’t tell him about the scheme but he knew about the OTRs. No I didn’t tell him and I accept it completely.”
SH: “The letters were kept secret from people, like David Trimble, the late David Ervine, the SDLP’s Alasdair MCDonnell. Why was that?”
TB: “They weren’t kept secret. The process was not a secret”.
SH: “The first two letters were issued from Downing Street by your chief of staff Jonathan Powell. Why were they kept secret? Sinn Fein always like to brag about the concessions they got from the British Government. They didn’t brag about this So Why were they kept secret for 14 years?
TB: It was not kept secret.
SH: At his trial John Downey relied on that letter in his abuse of process application was mounted and it was won. The letters were key to this whole scheme. You wrote to Gerry Adams to say you would expedite the scheme.
TB: I accept the (John) Downey letter was a mistake.
“We were fighting to keep the peace process alive for the next decade.”
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