Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether one of the appointments to co-directors of the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery will be from outside the United Kingdom.

Clause 5 of the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill stipulates that the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland must appoint two persons to be Directors of Investigations of the Legacy Commission. In exercising this power, the Secretary of State must, so far as practicable, ensure that one of the Directors has experience of conducting criminal investigations in Northern Ireland, and the other Director does not have that experience, but has experience of conducting criminal investigations outside Northern Ireland.

The legislation does not stipulate that one of the co-directors must be from outside of the United Kingdom.

Clause 9 of the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill requires appointments of the Directors for Investigations to be made following consultation with relevant individuals, in order to inform the appointments process. It also requires me to publish details of who will be consulted.