Policy background Previous attempts to address the Past in Northern Ireland
In 2009, The Consultative Group on the Past chaired by Lord Eames and Denis Bradley made 31 proposals.3 The proposals included: an Independent Legacy Commission to tackle securing reconciliation, justice and information; a new Review and Investigation Unit to deal with historical cases; no new public inquiries; a reconciliation forum; an annual day of reflection; and funding to tackle sectarianism. A £12,000 payment to be made to the relatives of the people killed during the Troubles was also proposed. This elicited strong reactions from political parties and wider civil society, and the report was not taken forward.
	In 2014, the Stormont House Agreement4 on legacy reform was negotiated by the UK and Irish Governments and the Northern Ireland parties. The Stormont House Agreement was, with the exception of the Ulster Unionist Party, supported by all of the major Northern Ireland parties and the Irish Government. It agreed on a number of basic principles including reconciliation, rule of law and a victims’ centred approach and proposed the establishment of several bodies to take this forward.
	Between May 2018 and October 2018, the Government invited extensive stakeholder feedback on a draft bill5 giving effect to the Stormont House Agreement, as part of a public consultation entitled ‘Addressing the legacy of the past - moving Northern Ireland forward.’ The consultation attracted over 17,000 responses and a summary of the responses6 was published in July 2019.
	The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act builds on the principles and other aspects of the Stormont House Agreement principles, such as a focus on information recovery and memorialising the Troubles. In doing so, it seeks to address practical implementation issues with the Stormont House Agreement which have been identified since the consultation, including managing the operational difficulties of investigating such a high number of complex, historical cases.