NORTHERN SECRETARY Owen Paterson has floated the idea of a “historical memory documentary centre” modelled on the Spanish experience as one possible method of dealing with the past.
Mr Paterson, in a speech given to the Policy Exchange think-tank, said some mechanism to allow “information sharing and recovery” could be a method of addressing the vexed and controversial issue of the legacy of the Troubles.
“Spanish legislation in 2007 included provision for a historical memory documentary centre in Salamanca with public access to archives and documents. Anything similar in Northern Ireland would clearly need involvement from all those involved in the events of the past 40 years. It could not be a one-sided exercise,” he said.
Mr Paterson said the proposal which is similar to the Legacy Commission concept of the Lord Eames-Denis Bradley commission on the past wouldn’t be a short cut for dealing with the issue. “But it might help families, and wider society, achieve greater understanding and closure, however difficult that might be,” he said in the inaugural Leonard Steinberg memorial lecture in London on Tuesday night.
“And its value would be highly dependent on the extent to which individuals would be prepared to tell their story and under what circumstances,” he said in the lecture in memory of Baron Steinberg, the multi-millionaire businessman and Ulster Unionist Party supporter who died a year ago aged 73.
