IRA Victims 'Closer To Libyan Settlement'

News of the death of Libya's former leader Muammar Gaddafi has prompted the DUP Lagan Valley MP Jeffrey Donaldson to further press for settlement of legal claims by IRA victims against the former regime.

Jeffrey Donaldson (pictured) said that he believed compensation for the 150 victims' families involved in the legal action could be fixed within months and added that "significant progress" had been made at a Foreign Office meeting this week.

Soon after the Prime Minister David Cameron said he is "proud" of Britain's role in the Libyan conflict, Mr Donaldson said the development would pave the way for justice for bereaved relatives.

He hopes a multi-million pound payout from Libya for its role in providing weapons to the IRA during the Troubles will follow.

"Hundreds of people, even thousands of people, have had their lives destroyed as a result of these weapons by the IRA, so today is significant," Mr Donaldson said.

"This now clears the way for what we hope will be the conclusion of our negotiations with the new government to settle the legal claims which have been made by a small number of IRA victims.

"We will be pressing for the establishment of a fund to assist the wider group of victims who suffered as a result of Gaddafi's sponsorship of the IRA and his arming of the IRA during the earliest years of the Troubles."

He should get a positive reception in Downing Street as yesterday evening, PM David Cameron said: "I think today is a day to remember all of Colonel Gaddafi's victims, from those who died in connection with the Pan-Am flight over Lockerbie to Yvonne Fletcher in a London street and obviously all the victims of IRA terrorism who died through their use of Libyan Semtex.

"We should also remember the many, many Libyans who died at the hands of this brutal dictator and his regime," he added.

"I'm proud of the role that Britain has played in helping them to bring that about and I pay tribute to the bravery of the Libyans who have helped to liberate their country."

The campaigning dad of a child killed by the IRA's Warrington bomb has also said he hopes Col Muammar Gaddafi's death will lead to a "speedy settlement" of legal claims by IRA victims.

Colin Parry's 13-year-old son Tim died in the 1993 attack. Semtex provided by Col Gaddafi's regime was used to make the IRA bomb and now, Mr Parry is involved in a class action against the Libyan authorities.

"I hope we are closer to a conclusion. It has been a long campaign," he added.

"The temporary government has been helped considerably by the British and the French in overcoming Col Gaddafi's regime. And in a sense the new emerging nation of Libya owes a debt to this country.

"So I would hope that factor, allied to the natural justice of our claim, would lead to a speedy settlement."

See: Cameron 'Proud' Of Britain's Role In Libya

(DW/BMcC)