New Troubles Victims Forum formed
Almost 30 victims of the Troubles are to take places on a forum to advise on the needs of those who suffered during decades of violence.
Members of the Victims Forum will be asked for their views on how a victim should be defined and how Northern Ireland should deal with its past.
Their advice will be offered to the Executive and the Victims Commission.
It will include former members of the security forces, a former IRA prisoner and victims of loyalist violence.
Some of the people selected for the forum are well known, others less so.
They include Michael McKinney whose brother William was shot dead by soldiers on Bloody Sunday, Alan McBride whose wife and father-in-law died in the IRA’s Shankill Road bombing, and Willie Fraser who campaigns for victims of IRA violence.
Others include Catherine McCartney, whose brother Robert was beaten to death outside a Belfast bar two years ago, and Mark Thompson whose Relatives for Justice group has focussed on state violence.
Michael Culbert is a former IRA prisoner who was sentenced to 16 years in jail for killing a police officer.
His relatives were burned out of Bombay Street in the early days of the troubles.
The forum’s first formal meeting will take place in Belfast later this month.
Before that, members will travel to Scotland for a more informal gathering.
Victims Commission sources said a Scottish hotel was chosen because local hotels had difficulty accommodating a group with so many wheelchair users.
