Sir Kenneth Bloomfield admitted that he had shed tears over the past six months as he heard stories and read lengthy letters from victims of violence. At yesterday's press conference to introduce his report, many of the people who spoke also had tears in their eyes.
Mr Matt McShane addressed his question to Dr Mo Mowlam. "Because of peace, as far as the government is concerned, does it mean that the people who murdered my son can get away with it?"
Gavin McShane and his friend, Shane McArdle, both 17, were shot dead by the UVF in Armagh on May 18th, 1994. Four years later nobody has been charged with their killings. Despite Dr Mowlam's assurance that the police would continue to try to track down all the perpetrators of violence, Mr McShane believes nobody will ever be charged.
"They're talking about letting prisoners out of jail, but we've got problems getting people into jail. I can't understand why the government can't prosecute those people. I don't think the will is there to do it."
Mr McShane said he fully supported the government's efforts at achieving a peace settlement, and he backed all Sir Kenneth's recommendations. "I wouldn't turn down any of it, because we need all the help we can get. As you can see, I'm four years on, and I'm still very emotional. It is very hard to cope."
He says, however, that he believes there is no justice for victims. "For the first three months I was told that the police were still investigating, and after that a policeman has never come to my door. It's the same with a lot of the victims I've spoken to, from both sides."
Sir Kenneth's report was universally welcomed by the victims of violence who attended yesterday's conference, but there was strong criticism of some politicians, who were accused of trying to exploit victims in the referendum campaign.
Ms Mina Wardle of the Shankill Stress and Trauma Group received loud applause when she said local politicians were "pulling the victims out of the woodwork" for their own political purposes.
"I wish they would get off their bandwagon. They had no interest in me over the last 30 years. They had no interest in my family. We look after about 360 families per week in our group, and none of them has been visited by politicians except to show their faces at a funeral. So we don't want them to speak on our behalf now. We can speak for ourselves."
She said the only politicians who had ever visited the group were Mr Hugh Smyth of the Progressive Unionist Party and Dr Joe Hendron of the SDLP.
Mr Brendan Bradley of the north Belfast Survivors of Trauma Group said he was happy the government had at last "sat up and paid attention". He welcomed proposals to give more financial help to locally-based community groups involved in supporting victims.
Families Against Intimidation and Terror (FAIT) paid tribute to Sir Kenneth for his sensitive approach to victims and their families, and for his "professional, far-reaching report". It urged the government to implement the report as quickly as possible.