Liam Kelly was speaking as the Government progresses its Northern Ireland Troubles Bill aimed at finding a way forward on the past
The legacy of Northern Ireland’s Troubles has been described as a “millstone round the neck of police”.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland ( PSNI ) is contending with the cost of the past in financial, as well as reputational, terms, the chairman of the Police Federation has said.
Liam Kelly was speaking as the Government progresses its Northern Ireland Troubles Bill aimed at finding a way forward on the past.
It aims to replace aspects of the previous Conservative government’s controversial Legacy Act, which shut down all UK police investigations into Troubles-related killings in May last year.
Mr Kelly said it is not sustainable for the PSNI to have to spend £20-30 million a year from their current budget.
But he said it has also been difficult for police officers and their predecessors being “tarnished” by events from the past.
Last month saw a Supreme Court ruling in favour of a Government appeal which prevents a coroner in Northern Ireland disclosing certain sensitive material at a Troubles inquest.
It unanimously overturned a decision by coroner Louisa Fee to disclose summaries, or gists, of the evidence in a sensitive security force file related to the murder of a man in west Belfast 30 years ago.
The court said while it has “considerable sympathy” with the desire of PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher to be transparent, the responsibility lies with the Northern Ireland Secretary over assessing risks to national security.
Mr Kelly said the judges made it very clear it is for Secretary of State Hilary Benn to make decisions around disclosure.
“Unfortunately, as we’ve seen with neither confirm nor deny processes, people can write their own narratives around whether that’s done or not done, and personally I don’t think that’s fair,” he said.
“Equally, it’s not fair to my former colleagues who were policing around those times, as they’re left with this sort of perception around that they were involved in all manner of things, when the reality is there’s very few, if any, officers from the past have actually been brought through the courts and criminally prosecute it for things that may or may not have happened.
“Now we’re in 2026 I think legacy is something that needs firmly gripped, and it hasn’t been gripped over the years.
“Our officers need the support of the public in the here and now, but unfortunately legacy is something that is tarnishing that and needs to be addressed, and addressed urgently.”
Mr Kelly said modern day standards are often applied to incidents which happened 40-50 years ago in what was “simply a different world”, adding: “There needs to be some sort of concession around that.”
He said in the 1970s the then RUC were quite small in numbers, and officers were “trying their best to manage” amid sometimes several major incidents in a day during that period at the start of the Troubles.
“The modern day standards being applied to that really are not fair, and don’t look at that whole context,” he said.
“From speaking to former senior officers and former police officers who policed in those times. I always get the impression from them that they did their best, and they really did do their best, and that, just by modern day standards, is just not acceptable to some people.
“But I don’t doubt their bona fides around what they wanted to do. They wanted to make Northern Ireland a safer place. They wanted to bring people to justice, and unfortunately, the environment at that time just did not make that happen.
“I think we need to see a more balanced narrative being put into the media around this, because we see quite outrageous things being said at times, but unfortunately, because the counter narrative can’t be produced, that means that it must be correct, and I disagree with that.
“The RUC were never disbanded, and that was a narrative that happened, that the RUC were disbanded in some way in disgrace.
“But they were actually incorporated into the Police Service of Northern Ireland, and Her Majesty the Queen gave the organisation the George Cross, which is the highest honour they could have received as an organisation, so we should be very proud of their service.”
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