SDLP Foyle MP Mark Durkan has said victims of the Troubles in Derry and throughout the North deserve bespoke consideration in terms of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and Personal Independence Payments (PIPs).
SDLP MP Mark Durkan
Durkan believes they should not be treated any differently from people who have served in the armed services whose disability stems from their experience and injuries.
Speaking during yesterday’s Westminster Hall debate on Personal Independence Payments, Mr Durkan told Derry Daily, “Those of us who have concerns about the implementation of welfare reform in Northern Ireland have raised the particular needs of victims of the Troubles, and we raised this issue in the Talks on the Stormont House Agreement.
“They were given DLA awards – perhaps for life – because of their condition, and there was concern about the difficulties they would face in being subjected to reassessment and in perhaps having to retell their story, whether the trauma they carried was physical or mental.
“Victims of the Troubles are worried about having to repeat their stories to assessment providers, civil servants or whomever else.
“They are worried about making their experience the subject of a review argument.
“They do not want to be put through those difficulties and talk about such sensitive things.
“We have made many promises to victims in Northern Ireland. We have set up victims units and victims commissioners to ensure that, when public bodies and agencies deal with them, their needs are given due consideration.
“It would therefore seem strange if we were to completely confound the position of victims in relation to Personal Independence Payments and treat them in a way that differs from the particular provision that, understandably, has been made by the British government for people who have served in the armed services and whose disability stems from their experience and the injuries that they received in that context.
“If consideration is rightly given to people in that situation, it is important that we have bespoke consideration in Northern Ireland.
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