The Government is considering a substantial increase in funding for Northern Ireland’s legacy investigations. But will more money deliver more justice, or simply prolong a process that has already lasted decades?
On 11 November, Sir Declan Morgan, Chief Commissioner of the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR), told the House of Commons Northern Ireland Affairs Committee that the organisation expects to handle approximately 650 investigations over nearly seven and a half years.
The Commission has an existing ring-fenced budget of £232 million. It is seeking a total of £628 million from the Treasury — an additional £396 million.
The BBC reported the figures under the headline Troubles investigations could cost up to £630m, says legacy body chief.
Morgan’s parliamentary evidence, however, deserves closer attention than the headline alone.
Nearly half a billion pounds already spent
In August, the Salus Archive published Financing Legacy, a detailed examination of public expenditure on Northern Ireland’s legacy investigations, inquests and associated legal processes.
The research identified approximately £495 million in evidenced historical expenditure to March 2026, with a broader estimated range of £650–825 million.
Its central conclusion was that the legacy system had failed to demonstrate public benefit proportionate to its cost.
There was no consolidated financial account, no consistent measure of outcomes and no credible route to finality.
These findings concerned the system as a whole, not a claim that individual investigations or inquiries achieved nothing.
The Commission’s proposed budget cannot simply be added to historical expenditure. Different accounting periods and possible overlaps must be reconciled.
Nevertheless, the funding request makes the questions raised by Salus Archive more pressing.
The Commission begins every case as a criminal investigation, while recognising that prosecutions are unlikely in the vast majority of cases.
Even the Chief Commissioner expects few prosecutions
One of the most significant statements in Morgan’s evidence received relatively little attention in the BBC report.
In response to Adam Jogee MP (Question 7), Morgan explained that the Commission begins every case as a criminal investigation, while recognising that prosecutions are unlikely in the vast majority of cases.
He expects the organisation ultimately to be regarded primarily as a truth-recovery body rather than a law-enforcement organisation.
He also disclosed that approximately one-third of cases already within the investigative process had been identified as likely to proceed on a non-criminal basis, and that he expected this proportion to increase substantially.
This does not mean that investigations are unnecessary. Families may obtain valuable information even when prosecution is impossible.
But it raises a fundamental question about the system's purpose and structure.
If the principal achievable outcome is information recovery, why must every case begin as a criminal investigation?
And how should the Commission distinguish between cases requiring criminal investigation and those in which the realistic objective is to establish what happened?
These distinctions matter for victims, families and veterans alike.
Morgan acknowledges repeated investigations problem
Perhaps the most important exchange for veterans came when Sir Alec Shelbrooke MP questioned Morgan about the duplication of previous investigations.
In Question 14, Shelbrooke asked how the Commission would determine when a fresh investigation was justified and when previous investigative work should be relied upon.
Morgan acknowledged that existing statements, inquiries and court records should provide the starting point.
He explained that investigators should consider carefully whether there is value in returning to individuals 30, 40 or 50 years after the events concerned.
He also accepted that there must be a reason for approaching someone who has already provided an account.
Shelbrooke pressed the point in Question 15, questioning the value of interviewing people about events half a century earlier.
Morgan acknowledged the difficulties associated with the reliability and accuracy of recollections after such a long period.
He recognised that further questioning might be justified where important witnesses had never been interviewed or where new material had emerged.
These are significant statements from the person responsible for leading the Commission.
They support a principle veterans have consistently argued: An investigation should not be repeated simply because another institution has acquired the authority or resources to conduct it.
There must be a demonstrable reason.
But there is an important distinction between recognising that principle and ensuring that it is enforced.
Morgan’s assurances describe how the Commission intends to approach duplication. They do not, by themselves, establish that the legislation provides sufficiently strong safeguards against unnecessary or repeated investigation.
That remains a matter for Parliament.
What will £628 million actually achieve?
Morgan told MPs that the Commission expects to produce approximately 80–90 outcomes annually over the proposed programme.
He also described an ambition to reach the point of producing one report each week as the reformed Commission becomes operational.
These are measurable targets. But activity and outcomes are not the same thing.
Completing an investigation does not necessarily mean recovering new information, establishing accountability or bringing a case to a durable conclusion.
Nor does publishing a report necessarily prevent subsequent litigation or renewed investigation.
The independent Salus Archive research proposed six measures for assessing the legacy system: investigative completion, recovery of new information, justice outcomes, procedural fairness, efficiency and finality.
Those measures should now be applied to the Commission’s Treasury business case.
In particular, Parliament should establish how many of the proposed 650 investigations concern incidents previously examined, what justifies further examination and how the Commission intends to prevent unnecessary duplication.
Will more funding prevent further public inquiries?
Morgan also warned that without sufficient resources, people might seek public inquiries instead, potentially at much greater public expense.
That is a legitimate consideration.
A properly resourced Legacy Commission might be more efficient than a succession of separate inquiries.
But it is not enough simply to assert that the alternative would cost more.
The Treasury should require evidence of the likely costs avoided, the outcomes expected and the circumstances in which the Commission’s work would prevent further proceedings.
Otherwise, additional funding risks creating another layer of investigation rather than replacing existing processes.
The investigation is the punishment
For veterans who have spent decades facing the possibility of renewed investigation, these questions have consequences far beyond public expenditure.
Witnesses die. Memories fade. Records disappear. The ability to reconstruct events and mount an effective defence diminishes.
An investigation may end without prosecution, yet still impose years of uncertainty and considerable personal distress.
Veterans do not argue that credible allegations of wrongdoing should escape investigation.
They argue that investigations must be necessary, proportionate and fair, and that the law must provide meaningful protection against unnecessary repetition.
Improved welfare arrangements, more sensitive interviewing procedures and additional investigative resources may all be welcome.
But none is a substitute for substantive safeguards.
The question is whether the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill, now before the House of Lords, will provide those safeguards.
Parliament must connect the money to the law
The Treasury is considering the Commission’s request for an additional £396 million.
Meanwhile, Parliament is considering the legal framework under which that money will be spent.
These decisions cannot sensibly be separated.
Before the new arrangements are approved, Parliament should require clear answers to five questions:
How many of the proposed 650 investigations concern incidents previously investigated?
What new evidence, legal obligation or information-recovery purpose justifies renewed investigation?
What safeguards will prevent individuals being questioned repeatedly without sufficient reason?
How will the Commission measure meaningful outcomes rather than simply investigative activity?
What constitutes a lawful and durable conclusion, and under what circumstances may a case be reopened?
Morgan’s evidence suggests that the Commission recognises at least some of these problems.
That is welcome.
But recognition is not protection, and administrative intentions are not statutory guarantees.
Finality, not immunity
The financial figures are substantial.
The human consequences are greater.
Victims and families deserve credible efforts to recover information and establish accountability.
Veterans deserve protection from unnecessary, repetitive and disproportionate investigations.
The public deserves evidence that hundreds of millions of pounds are being spent on a system capable of delivering meaningful results.
The House of Lords now has an opportunity to examine whether the proposed legislation can achieve those objectives.
Sir Declan Morgan has acknowledged the limits of criminal prosecution, the difficulties of investigating events half a century old and the importance of avoiding duplication.
Those acknowledgements should now be reflected in enforceable safeguards, transparent performance measures and clear criteria for reopening cases.
Another £396 million may buy more investigations.
It must not buy another seven and a half years of uncertainty without a credible prospect of resolution.
Sources and further reading
Northern Ireland Affairs Committee — Oral evidence, 11 November 2026, HC 792 — particularly Questions 7, 14–15 and 35–40.
BBC News — Troubles investigations could cost up to £630m, says legacy body chief, 11 November 2026
This has become more and more insane.
I agree with Don