FUTURE royal pardons in Northern Ireland should be published – but paramilitaries who have already received them will remain secret because of "privacy concerns".
The British government has accepted a recommendation to publish details in future on the use of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy (RPM) in Northern Ireland.
But ministers faced criticism from unionists after again ruling out revealing the names of paramilitaries who have already received the pardons.
The government said there were "legal and privacy concerns" and warned that identifying individuals could jeopardise future prosecutions.
Royal pardons were used in a number of cases to shorten prison sentences in the years after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
They allow changes in sentences without the backing of, or consultation with, the British parliament.
Their use was reviewed as part of a probe by Lady Justice Heather Hallett into the On The Runs (OTRs) scheme, a government administrative scheme dealing with fugitive republicans.
It sparked controversy last year after it led to the collapse of a trial over the IRA's 1982 Hyde Park bombing, in which four soldiers were killed.
RPMs were used in 16 paramilitary-related cases in the years immediately after the Good Friday Agreement to shorten sentences.
Paramilitaries still behind bars after the agreement were released under that accord in a decision that was unpalatable to unionists but considered crucial to Sinn Féin's acceptance of the deal. But others who had escaped were not covered.
More than 350 pardons were issued in Northern Ireland over the past 35 years.
When RPMs are used in England they are printed in the London Gazette. However, RPMs are generally not published when granted in Northern Ireland.
But yesterday the government said it had "accepted the recommendation of the Hallett Report to establish a register for current and future use of the RPM in Northern Ireland".
"The practice of publishing the use of the RPM in the London Gazette for cases in England and Wales only applies where the RPM has been used to grant a free pardon – not where the RPM has been used to shorten or commit sentences," it said.
"In any case in future where use of the RPM is considered in Northern Ireland to grant a free pardon, the government will take full account of the committee's recommendation and the expectation will be that such a use will be published in the Belfast Gazette."
The Northern Ireland affairs committee of MPs, which also probed the government's OTRs system, yesterday published the government's response to its report.
"The government has made clear its position on publishing the names of individuals who are in receipt of the RPM," it said.
"The government does not consider it appropriate to publish the names given the legal and privacy concerns that are present.
"There is a risk that by publishing names relating to individuals that received the RPM or letter under the OTR scheme, that this would jeopardise future prosecutions, either make them more difficult or increase the risk of an abuse of process argument being successfully run."
Ulster Unionist MP Danny Kinahan said it was "deeply disappointing" that the government will not publish the names of those who received RPMs.
"The numbers of those who received the RPM were staggering and coming as they did at a time when further details of the 'comfort letters' scheme were emerging dealt a blow to public confidence in the justice system and elements of the government," the South Antrim MP said.
"I still believe it is important that the public know which terrorists received the Royal Prerogative of Mercy. This government should provide the transparency that previous governments failed to."
