Alliance Party will support Victims' Commission's remit - Bell

12.00.00am GMT Tue 31st Jan 2006

Alliance Deputy Leader Eileen Bell has said the Alliance Party will back the Victims' Commission's remit for the rest of the year. She was speaking after an Alliance delegation, including Party Leader David Ford, met Victims Commissioner Bertha McDougall.

Mrs Bell, also the party's victims' spokesperson, stated: "We enjoyed a productive meeting with the Victims' Commissioner today.

"We remain unhappy about the way the appointment was made, and we believe the manner of the appointment has a fundamentally negative effect on the Commission's ability to do the work it needs to do. This issues should have been kept well away from party politics. However, that is not the acting Commissioner's fault.

"We are satisfied that the remit of the Commission and the outline of the Commissioner's work, as she sees it, are genuinely in the interests of victims and survivors from all backgrounds.

"We have no time to lose if many victims and survivors are to get the sense of closure they need and deserve. This is a mammoth task, each and every case is different, but we may be glad that we have at least taken a step along the road."

ENDS