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Select committee: Northern Ireland Affairs Committee

HM Government support for UK victims of IRA attacks that used Gaddafi-supplied Semtex and weapons inquiry

Closed Opened 24 Jul 2015 Closed 26 Apr 2017

Northern Ireland Affairs Committee Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗

Inquiry scope (the committee's words)
The report, HM Government support for UK victims of IRA attacks that used Gaddafi-supplied Semtex and weapons, highlights a series of missed opportunities to secure compensation and urges the next government to take firm action to end two decades of failure. There is no doubt that the weapons, funding, training and explosives provided by the Gaddafi regime to the provisional IRA both extended and exacerbated the Troubles. In particular, the Semtex that was supplied made possible a deadly bombing campaign from the late 1980s, that included atrocities at Enniskillen, Warrington and the London Docklands amongst many others.

Where it stands

The inquiry is closed, opened 24 July 2015.

The committee has published 1 report, most recently 4th Report - HM Government support for UK victims of IRA attacks that used Gaddafi-supplied Semtex and weapons on 2 May 2017.

The government's response

Published 15 September 2017.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The Government agrees that Gaddafi's support extended and exacerbated the Troubles and says it will keep raising compensation with the Libyan authorities, but it has concluded that a UK-funded reparations fund is "not a viable option" at this stage.

  • The Government agrees that weapons, funding, training and explosives from Gaddafi to the Provisional IRA extended and exacerbated the Troubles, and states that it wants "a just solution" for victims.
  • It "commits to use our bilateral relationship" to stress the importance of compensation, but does not believe making support to Libya conditional on it would be in the UK's national interest.
  • On frozen Libyan assets, it states there is "no legal basis" for a licence to release funds for compensation, and that seizing them is "not a feasible option".
  • It says early settlement with Libya is "unlikely", but that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office will continue to provide updates and facilitation support to victims "where possible".

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error

Reports

All reports

Evidence

  • 7 oral evidence sessionsLatest 26 October 2016
All evidence

Recent activity

Reports

1 report

Oral evidence sessions

7 sessions

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Date Session and witnesses Source
26 Oct 2016
Oral evidence session
No witnesses recorded 		View ↗
22 Mar 2016
Oral evidence session
No witnesses recorded 		View ↗
28 Oct 2015
Oral evidence session
No witnesses recorded 		View ↗
21 Oct 2015
Oral evidence session
No witnesses recorded 		View ↗
14 Oct 2015
Oral evidence session
No witnesses recorded 		View ↗
16 Sep 2015
Oral evidence session
No witnesses recorded 		View ↗
9 Sep 2015
Oral evidence session
No witnesses recorded 		View ↗

Correspondence

11 letters

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PublishedDirectionLetter
9 May 2018 Not recorded Correspondence with the Minister of State for the Middle East, relating to the Government response to the previous Committee’s inquiry into HM Government support for UK victims of IRA attacks that used Gaddafi-supplied Semtex and weapons, 19 April 2018
2 Mar 2016 From committee Tony Blair's letter to the Chair re: support for victims of Libyan Semtex, 26 February 2016
24 Feb 2016 From committee Gordon Brown's letter to the Chair re: support for victims of Libyan Semtex, 12 February 2016
28 Jan 2016 From committee Chair's letter to Tony Blair re: support for victims of Libyan Semtex, 27 January 2016
15 Jan 2016 From committee Tony Blair's letter to the Chair re: support for victims of Libyan Semtex, 15 January 2016
6 Jan 2016 From committee Chair's letter to Tony Blair re: support for victims of Libyan Semtex, 6 January 2016
26 Nov 2015 From committee Chair's letter to Gordon Brown re: support for victims of Libyan Semtex, 24 November 2015
25 Nov 2015 From committee Gordon Brown's letter to the Clerk of the Committee re: support for victims of Libyan Semtex, 6 November 2015
27 Oct 2015 From committee Chair's letter to Tony Blair re: support for victims of Libyan Semtex, 26 October 2015
26 Oct 2015 From committee Tony Blair's letter to the Chair of the Committee re: support for victims of Libyan Semtex, 23 October 2015
8 Oct 2015 From committee Chair's letter to Tony Blair, re: support for victims of Libyan semtex