A SENIOR Conservative peer is to attend a Belfast screening of a film about eight killings during the Troubles.
It follows complaints that the Northern Ireland Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris declined an invitation to attend the event at Queen’s University on Thursday.
The Victims’ Stories includes those who have lost family members in the Omagh bomb, Bloody Sunday, the Ballymurphy massacre, the Birmingham bomb and the families of victims murdered by the UVF and UDA.
It has since been confirmed that Lord Caine will now be attending.
As Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Northern Ireland Office, he has served as a former special adviser to six Northern Ireland secretaries.
The film is part of a campaign against plans by the British government to end all prosecutions for killings that took place during the Troubles.
Campaigners have said this amounts to an amnesty that closes the door on justice.
John Teggart, whose father Daniel was killed in Ballymurphy in 1971, has now called on Mr Heaton-Harris to do more to engage with victims.
“It’s good it’s getting some attention, but it was only after we had put this out to media that (the Northern Ireland secretary) wouldn’t be attending,” he said.
“It’s disappointing he didn’t come in person. If he is now carrying the can for (his predecessor) Brandon Lewis, he should have been there. Once he sees this film, I’m hopeful that he will rethink things.”
RTE has reported that Mr Heaton-Harris’ office said he would not be in the north at the time, but that a copy of the film would be sent to him “to be viewed privately in his own time”.
- This story was amended on September 27