Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many Troubles-related civil suits against government departments were stopped by the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023; what legal categories they fall under; and whether they will all be permitted to continue after the enactment of the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill.

Existing civil cases were not barred from proceeding by the Legacy Act. The Government is, by way of a Remedial Order, repealing the retrospective bar on new civil cases and the bar on future civil cases, which was found to be incompatible with our human rights obligations.

It is right that citizens in all parts of the UK have the right to bring a civil case, and these are not necessarily cases against government departments. For example, four individuals were found responsible for the Omagh bombing in the civil courts in 2009.