Gerry Adams could receive compensation worth tens of thousands of pounds for unlawful detention in the 1970s after Labour law change

Ministers came under fire yesterday over a ‘completely inappropriate’ change in the law that paves the way for Gerry Adams to receive tens of thousands of pounds in compensation.

The former Sinn Fein leader has been barred from receiving compensation for unlawful detention under legislation passed under the previous Tory government.

But the Labor government plans to withdraw this proposal after the High Court of Northern Ireland ruled it breaches the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

There is no obligation on ministers to follow the Belfast court ruling, but they have decided to do so without challenging it.

It opens the door for Mr Adams, who has always denied being a member of the IRA, and hundreds of other former suspected terrorists to make taxpayer-funded compensation claims.

Sixteen peers – including a number of former judges and top lawyers – criticized ministers last night as part of a report opposing the measure from think tank Policy Exchange.

In a foreword to the report, they branded the government’s move as “completely inappropriate” and said paying compensation would be a “very poor use of scarce public resources at a time of national economic crisis.”

They added: ‘We strongly support Policy Exchange’s criticism of the [Northern Ireland] Supreme Court ruling and the government’s response to it and now call on the government to reconsider this.’

Sinn Fein leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuiness attend the funeral of Patrick Kelly, alleged East Tyrone IRA commander, in May 1987

Lord Wolfson KC, the shadow attorney general, said the government’s pledge to press ahead because of its “absolute commitment” to human rights “makes no sense”.

Professor Richard Ekins KC, professor of law at the University of Oxford, said: ‘The government has wrongly taken the words of a single judge of the High Court of Northern Ireland to justify rolling back recently passed and entirely reasonable legislation.

“The government’s decision to change the law is inexplicable and unjustifiable.

“It will once again open the door to a wave of pointless lawsuits relating to events that occurred more than fifty years ago, which could result in hundreds of people lawfully detained at the time for suspected involvement in terrorism now receiving compensation, which is an unjust and is a wasteful act. use of public money.’

It will anger groups such as retirees and farmers, who lost out on Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ budget.

Adams was detained without trial twice during the Troubles, a practice introduced by British ministers in Northern Ireland in the early 1970s in an attempt to stem rising violence.

He was interned under Article 4 of the Detention of Terrorists (Northern Ireland) Order 1972, which covered anyone ‘suspected of having been concerned in the commission or attempted commission of any act of terrorism’.

More than 1,900 people suspected of being members of paramilitary or terror groups such as the IRA were detained under the powers.

In 2020, the UK Supreme Court ruled that Mr Adams and others had been unlawfully detained.

A photograph of Gerry Adams (centre) in Belfast in 1973, acting as a member of the IRA guard of honor at the funeral of a member killed during the planting of a bomb

Mr Adams was held in the Maze maximum security prison near Belfast, also known as the Long Kesh internment camp

Gerry Adams Funeral of Shane MacGowan, St Mary’s of the Rosary Church, Nenagh, County Tipperary, Ireland – December 8, 2023

But this conclusion was reached due to a technicality, namely that the then Northern Ireland Secretary Willie Whitelaw had not personally signed the remand order.

Tory ministers rejected the ruling before passing the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023, which under sections 46 and 47 stopped Mr Adams and hundreds of others from making claims.

But Labor has introduced secondary legislation that would repeal these sections.

It is likely to be passed by the House of Commons as the party has a large majority.

But it could run into trouble in the Lords, where the Tories have a majority.

Other colleagues supporting the Policy Exchange report included former Cabinet Secretary Lord Butler of Brockwell, ex-Master of the Rolls and head of civil justice Lord Etherton KC and former Home Secretary Lord Howard of Lympne.

Lord Macdonald of River Glaven KC, a former Director of Public Prosecutions, and Margaret Thatcher’s ex-private secretary, Lord Powell of Bayswater, also signed it.

The Northern Ministry, which introduced the legislation, was contacted for comment.