Blair 'Cornered' Over Northern Ireland Letters

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By David Blevins, Ireland Correspondent

Tony Blair will today face questions from MPs investigating the scheme established to resolve the issue of "on the runs" during the Northern Ireland peace process.

The controversial distribution of "letters of comfort" to alleged fugitives, stating they were no longer wanted for past crimes, sparked uproar last year when it resulted in the collapse of the Hyde Park bomb trial at the Old Bailey.

John Downey, who denied murdering four soldiers in the 1982 bombing, had received a letter in error informing him he was no longer being pursued in Northern Ireland or elsewhere.

During his trial, it emerged that 187 people had received similar assurances - the majority of them republicans who had never been charged or who had been convicted but then escaped.

Under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, those convicted of terrorist offences were released from prison early but those who had gone "on the run" were not considered eligible.

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Gallery: Hyde Park Bombing: July 1982

A police forensic officer examines the remains of the IRA car which contained the Hyde Park bomb

Images of dead horses and wrecked cars added to the shock for people reeling from the human cost of the atrocity

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Wrecked cars are removed from the scene

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The flag-draped coffin carrying Lt Anthony Daly, the Blues and Royals officer killed in the bombing along with three other soldiers

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A memorial stone marks the location of the 1982 bombing

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In 2006, after an attempt to establish a formal scheme for "on the runs" failed, Mr Blair wrote to Gerry Adams outlining plans to resolve the issue, "expediting the existing administrative procedures".

The scheme had been reported publicly but victims' families said they felt "devastatingly let down" by the collapse of the Downey case - and Northern Ireland's First Minister threatened to resign.

Lady Justice Hallet, who conducted the first inquiry, concluded that the letters were not an amnesty and that the scheme was lawful but called Mr Downey's letter a "catastrophic mistake".

The Northern Ireland Select Committee, which is carrying out its own inquiry at Westminster, first invited Mr Blair to appear last March - then voted unanimously to summon him in December.

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Gallery: IRA Suspect Amnesties: Key Players

Following the Good Friday Agreement and the release of 400 loyalist and republican paramilitary prisoners, the question about what to do with on-the-run IRA suspects, wanted for crimes before April 10, 1998, continued to needle the Tony Blair Government

In 2006, Mr Blair wrote to Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams telling him the Government was working on a solution for dealing with the suspects in question

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In his letter to the former Prime Minister, chairman Laurence Robertson MP said: "The committee was particularly disappointed at a lack of response since its members have noted that you have been in the UK regularly over the past few weeks, but you have not been able to find an hour or so to meet us. The committee felt this was extremely disrespectful to the House."

Democratic Unionist MP David Simpson, a member of the committee, said: "Despite Mr Blair's best efforts to assist republicans, this shameful scheme has now come to a close and those in receipt of letters have been very publicly warned that no comfort can now be drawn from them.

"It has been a long fight to bring Tony Blair before this committee and now that he has finally been cornered into giving evidence, it is vital that he gives some answers."

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