Government announces new Victims Commissioner

A former primary school teacher, whose RUC reservist husband was murdered by republicans in the 1980's, has been appointed by the Government to be Northern Ireland's new victims commissioner.

Bertha McDougall set up the victims group 'Forgotten Families' to lobby for the needs of victims after her husband, Lindsay, was killed by the INLA in 1981.

Secretary of State Peter Hain said Mrs McDougall's experience in working with victims and victims support groups would be "vital in helping to address the needs of those who have suffered great personal loss".

"The Government believes that the needs of those who have suffered so much over the years must get greater recognition. They must not become the forgotten people," Mr Hain said.

However, Sinn Fein and the SDLP have questioned the decision. "Sinn Fein is very concerned at the way the British government has made this appointment," Sinn Féin North Antrim MLA Philip McGuigan said.

"All public appointments must be made in a transparent and accountable manner. The fact that no victims groups seem to have been consulted on this appointment is not a good sign."

SDLP assembly member Patricia Lewsley said her party had called for a victims' forum to represent diverse concerns, rather than a single commissioner.

"If government is serious about parity of esteem for all victims, then it should not be consulting with or seeking the approval of one political party only for an appointment," she said.

Mrs McDougall will take up her new duties on at the beginning of December.

(MB/SP)