Northern Ireland

Reconciling the truth: There is a way to achieve justice for the Troubles without punishment

Brian Rowan, a former chief security correspondent for the BBC, believes an internationally chaired conference that talks to all sides and gathers the truth without judgment is the only way to move forward from the Troubles’ painful legacy. The following extract from Rowan’s book, Living With Ghosts, puts forward the argument for an amnesty

A loyalist paramilitary mural in Belfast: ‘When I think back now, I have so many questions that I know will never be answered, including about that loyalist killing rage in the 1990s.’ Picture: Getty

Brian Rowan gets nervous any time he talks about the prospect of an amnesty for participants in the Troubles, he tells Daniel Murray.

“It is not easy to speak the word amnesty. Not in a place so small in which people have been touched by the worst horrors of the conflict period. It is one of those things where you think very carefully about every word as you speak it,” Rowan said.

As a former ...