'I'm still behind £12k death pay'

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One of the proposers of the payment of £12,000 for every death in the Northern Ireland troubles has said he would fight on for the payment to be made.

Denis Bradley says he is still firmly behind the controversial proposal.

His co-chair of the Consultative Group on the Past, Lord Eames, has since admitted it may have been a mistake.

"I would still fight very strongly for the recognition payment," said Mr Bradley, speaking at the West Belfast Festival on Monday.

"We recommended the payment not because it came into our heads but because it came from some of the relatives' heads.

"It is the voice of the voiceless and I will continue to speak on their behalf."

Mr Bradley said the payment was a "crude instrument" but that 30 or 40 years of violence had "also been crude".

Northern Ireland Secretary of State Shaun Woodward subsequently ruled out a £12,000 payment to all families bereaved as a result of the troubles.

'Time not right'

In February, Mr Woodward said it was clear the "time is not right for such a recognition payment".

The Consultative Group on the Past is an independent group set up to deal with the legacy of Northern Ireland's Troubles, during which more than 3,000 people died.

It was proposed that the families of paramilitary victims, members of the security forces and civilians who were killed would all be entitled to the same amount.

This was one of more than 30 recommendations the group made in its 190-page report published at the start of this year.