Troubles victim welcomes pension delay court ruling

Troubles victim welcomes pension delay court ruling

26 August 2020

A LOCAL  man who is fighting to get a Troubles pension has welcomed a court ruling that the NI Executive Office’s delay in paying the pension is unlawful.

Peter Heathwood, from Killough, is a member of the Wave Injured Group which is demanding that the promised money be paid as soon as possible.

However, a dispute as to who constitutes a victim and whether Belfast or London will pays for the pension has delayed the payments, which were due to have started in May.

Mr Justice McAlinden ruled in favour of a start to payments during a legal challenge to the delay brought to the High Court in Belfast last week.

The judge said the Executive Office was deliberately “stymieing” the commencement of payouts in order to pressurise the Government into providing the funding and, in Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill’s case, getting the eligibility criteria changed.

Mr Heathwood was left paralysed as a result of a Loyalist shooting at his home in north Belfast in 1979.

He praised the judge for providing clarity that the Executive’s failure to implement the scheme “was and is unlawful”.

“The Stormont Executive must now implement the pension scheme with haste,” urged Mr Heathwood.

“Most of those seriously injured left alive are in their late 60s, 70s and even 80s. Time is not on our side, and although we are pleased to have this particular blockage removed, we are concerned that if Stormont and the NIO don’t agree on a funding package the pension will be delayed again.”

He said that the Wave group had been campaigning for the pension for 11 horrendous injuries by the Troubles.

Mr Heathwood stressed: “Our whole campaign has been non-political, it’s about the state doing the just and moral thing. As a group we represent all sides of this community, our members have been hurt by all the different waring factions in the Troubles, and we are alarmed when our campaign gets dragged into political fallouts at Stormont.

“It’s a shame the scheme couldn’t have gone ahead in May as two of our group, Paddy Cassidy and Ronald Trimble, have died this year.”

He added: “Let’s hope no more of those seriously injured have to die before the Stormont Executive gets the pension up and running.”