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GERRY ADAMS HAS condemned as “vindictive and unlawful” the UK government’s plan to block compensation for hundreds of people interned without trial during the Troubles, calling it a political move to rewrite history and defy the Supreme Court.
The former Sinn Féin president was reacting to confirmation from Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn that the Government will bring forward new legislation aimed at stopping payouts to those (including Adams) whose detention was ruled unlawful by the UK’s highest court.
“I am not surprised by the British government’s decision to retrospectively make lawful actions it took 50 years ago that were illegal and unlawful at that time,” Adams said today.
“The original injustice endured by the internees will be deepened by the stupidity of a vindictive British government which doesn’t accept its own law.”
The fresh legislation follows a 2020 Supreme Court ruling which found that Adams and nearly 400 other individuals were unlawfully detained in the 1970s because their Interim Custody Orders (ICOs) had not been personally authorised by the Secretary of State, as required by law.
ICOs were emergency detention orders introduced in 1971 at the height of the Troubles, allowing authorities to detain suspects without trial. However, the law required these orders be personally signed by the Secretary of State — a step missed in many cases, including Adams’s.
The 2020 court decision opened the door for compensation claims – until the Legacy Act, passed under the Conservative government, attempted to retroactively validate the ICOs.
That attempt was struck down by the High Court in Belfast in February 2024 as incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.
Now, Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the UK government have pledged to rewrite the law again in a bid to stop the compensation payments.
“The main issue here is the application of the Carltona principle,” Benn said in Parliament last week.
“The Government will therefore legislate to address this issue in forthcoming primary legislation.”
The Carltona principle is a legal doctrine that allows civil servants in the UK to act on behalf of ministers or Secretaries of State, meaning decisions can be made without the official’s personal signature.
The UK government intends to use this principle to justify retrospectively validating ICOs.
The DUP has welcomed the move. Party leader Gavin Robinson said it was “right and proper that the Government ensures Adams does not receive one penny of taxpayer money.”
“Such a move would have been an affront to all those who uphold the rule of law and an insult to victims of terrorism,” Robinson added.
But Adams, who has always denied IRA membership, says the planned law change only compounds the injustice suffered by internees.
Many, now elderly, were imprisoned without trial under emergency measures introduced at the height of the conflict in 1971.
“They were victims of appalling treatment at the hands of the British state forces and were held in shameful conditions,” he said.
Legal and human rights groups are expected to challenge the new legislation if passed, raising concerns about the use of retroactive laws to neutralise court judgments and deny victims redress.
“The British government is once again rewriting its own laws when they become politically inconvenient,” Adams said earlier this year.
“This is not justice. This is political manipulation dressed up as legality.”
The bill is expected to be brought before Parliament later this year.
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