Nearly £500 million spent on Northern Ireland legacy — but no one can show whether it delivered value

At least £495m has been spent on Northern Ireland legacy cases since 1998. A new Salus Archive report asks what taxpayers got for the money — and warns the true cost could be far higher.

A new Salus Archive report has identified £495 million of spending on Northern Ireland legacy investigations, inquests, inquiries and legal processes since the Good Friday Agreement.

But after almost three decades of investigations and hundreds of millions of pounds of public money, the government still cannot say how much the entire system has cost, what it has achieved or when the process will finally end.

Northern Ireland Legacy Investigations Funding: Public Expenditure, Measurable Benefit and Opportunity Cost examines the available accounts, official figures and Freedom of Information data rather than simply accepting the large headline estimates that have circulated in the political debate.

It finds:

• £322.4 million of directly documented spending, including four public inquiries, ICRIR expenditure, identifiable legacy-inquest legal aid and Police Ombudsman support;

• £482.4 million when ten years of PSNI legacy expenditure is added;

• £495 million when separate Ministry of Defence costs identified through Freedom of Information data are included;

• A possible historic cost of £650–825 million between April 1998 and March 2026 once known gaps in the official figures are modelled.

The £650–825 million figure is an estimate, not an audited total. That uncertainty is itself part of the problem: government has never produced a complete account of what Northern Ireland’s legacy system has cost.

Allowing for inflation, the £495 million evidenced figure is worth approximately £627–665 million in 2024–25 prices. The broader historic estimate would be roughly £0.8–1.05 billion.

What did taxpayers get for the money?

The report does not argue that all legacy spending has been wasted.

Public inquiries, inquests, Police Ombudsman investigations and Operation Kenova have established facts, corrected official accounts and answered questions for some families. In some cases they have also led to acknowledgement, compensation or legal closure.

But individual successes do not prove that the system as a whole has delivered value for money.

After hundreds of millions of pounds of expenditure, there is still no complete account of the cost, no reliable cost per completed case and no consistent measure of whether the process has delivered truth, justice, reconciliation or greater public confidence.

Nor is there a single record showing which incidents have already been investigated, how often they have been examined or what would finally bring a case to an end.

Cases can pass through investigations, inquests, civil claims and judicial reviews, sometimes involving the same events and evidence repeatedly.

Legacy work is costing today’s policing

The impact is not confined to historic cases.

The PSNI estimates that legacy work is now placing an annual pressure of about £24 million on the force. The Chief Constable has compared the accumulated burden with the cost of around 400 police officers.

That does not mean Northern Ireland would automatically have 400 more officers if legacy work disappeared. But it demonstrates the scale of policing resources being absorbed by events that happened decades ago.

Courts, coroners, prosecutors, government lawyers and disclosure teams face similar pressures.

There is also a limit to the number of experienced investigators, lawyers, judges and security-cleared staff available. More money cannot simply create more of them.

How many times should the same case be investigated?

For veterans, one of the most important questions is repeated investigation.

The report does not argue that an incident should never be examined twice. An earlier investigation may have been inadequate, lacked independence or powers, or new evidence may have emerged.

But another investigation should have to be justified.

Before substantial new work begins, officials should have to establish what investigations have already taken place, why they were insufficient, what genuinely new evidence or legal question exists and what outcome would finally close the case.

A properly completed case should not simply be reopened again without new evidence, a serious defect in the previous investigation or a genuine legal requirement.

No more blank cheques

The report does not recommend simply creating another institution and transferring the same cases, staff and litigation into it.

Instead, it argues that the government should have to demonstrate what additional funding will actually achieve.

Before another multi-year funding settlement is approved, ministers should produce a proper business case showing the expected cost, workload and timetable for completing the work.

Government should also publish annual accounts showing the total cost of the legacy system, identify the pressure being placed on policing and justice bodies, improve disclosure and case management, measure results and subject performance to independent review.

Funding should continue where work is legally necessary, there is a realistic prospect of achieving something and the case can be brought to a defined conclusion.

Where those tests cannot be met, the work should be narrowed, stopped or fundamentally changed.

After almost three decades and at least £495 million of identifiable expenditure, the burden of proof should now rest with those asking taxpayers for more.

Without clear costs, measurable results and a point at which cases can finally be closed, there is a danger that further millions will simply pay to keep the legacy system running rather than deliver truth, justice or resolution.

Read the complete report on Salus Archive