He was speaking in Stormont on Tuesday after a recall petition from the SDLP to show opposition to the UK government’s proposed amnesty for unrest-related crimes.

MPs supported the SDLP motion rejecting the amnesty.

Mr. McGlone said: “Without acknowledging past wrongs, there can be little hope of reconciliation. It is not just the innocent victims of atrocities committed by state forces like Bloody Sunday and Ballymurphy whose doors are closed – it is the thousands of people killed, maimed, beaten and disappeared by the Provisional Republican Movement and the paramilitaries. loyalists.

“The de facto amnesty that Secretary of State Brandon Lewis has proposed is a re-enactment of the Northern Ireland Offenses Bill in 2005. At the time, the SDLP was the only one to consistently oppose to this bill. The Sinn Féin denial and spin did not stand up to scrutiny from victim groups, and they were forced to withdraw their support at the last minute.

“The failure to make progress on the vital legacy issue since then has given the current UK government another opportunity to try to secure the deal reached in 2005. But attempts to seal the past are doomed to failure The poison will not be contained, and it will continue to contaminate the present and the future until it is properly dealt with.

“How to properly deal with the past is outlined in the Stormont House agreement – a complete legacy process, through investigations with all the powers of the police. This process requires a commitment from all parties and from the UK and Irish governments to truth, justice, recognition, accountability and reconciliation. ”

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