Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023

1 Meaning of “the Troubles” and other key expressions

(1) In this Act “the Troubles” means the events and conduct that related to Northern Ireland affairs and occurred during the period—

(a) beginning with 1 January 1966, and

(b) ending with 10 April 1998.

(2) That includes any event or conduct during that period which was connected with—

(a) preventing,

(b) investigating, or

(c) otherwise dealing with the consequences of,

any other event or conduct relating to Northern Ireland affairs.

(3) Accordingly, in this Act an event or conduct “forming part of the Troubles” is an event or conduct that falls within subsection (1) (including any of a kind described in subsection (2)).

(4) In this Act “other harmful conduct forming part of the Troubles” means any conduct forming part of the Troubles which caused a person to suffer physical or mental harm of any kind (excluding death).

(5) For the purposes of this Act—

(a) an offence is “Troubles-related” if—

(i) it is an offence under the law of Northern Ireland, England and Wales or Scotland, and

(ii) the conduct which constitutes the offence was to any extent conduct forming part of the Troubles;

(b) a Troubles-related offence is “serious” if the offence—

(i) is murder, manslaughter or culpable homicide,

(ii) is another offence that was committed by causing the death of a person, or

(iii) was committed by causing a person to suffer serious physical or mental harm;

(c) a Troubles-related offence is “connected” if the offence—

(i) relates to, or is otherwise connected with, a serious Troubles-related offence (whether it and the serious offence were committed by the same person or different persons), but

(ii) is not itself a serious Troubles-related offence;

and for this purpose, one offence is to be regarded as connected with another offence, in particular, if both offences formed part of the same event.

(6) In this Act—

• “conduct” includes an act or an omission;

• “Northern Ireland affairs” means—

  (a)

  the constitutional status of Northern Ireland, or

  (b)

  political or sectarian hostility between people in Northern Ireland;

• “serious physical or mental harm” means—

  (a)

  paraplegia;

  (b)

  quadriplegia;

  (c)

  severe brain injury or damage;

  (d)

  severe psychiatric damage;

  (e)

  total blindness;

  (f)

  total deafness;

  (g)

  loss of one or more limbs;

  (h)

  severe scarring or disfigurement.

(7) For the purposes of this section it does not matter if an event or conduct occurred in Northern Ireland, in another part of the United Kingdom, or elsewhere.