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07:59 Monday 03 July 2017

The leader of an English terror victims group has welcomed assurances from the DUP that they will be pressing hard for compensation for victims, despite the issue not being mentioned in the Tory-DUP deal.

Docklands Victims Association chairman Jonathan Ganesh was injured in the IRAs 1996 Canary Wharf bomb, which used Semtex supplied to the IRA by Libya.

Some victims and their representatives expressed disappointment that there was no mention in the Tory-DUP deal of their campaign to secure compensation from Libya for arming the IRA.

But Mr Ganesh has now welcomed assurances given to him by DUP MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson.

The MP said in an email that the DUP has many members that are themselves innocent victims of terrorism from the Troubles: This includes our party leader Arlene Foster who not only was injured in an IRA bomb attack on her school bus but also witnessed her father having been shot by the IRA.

The suggestion from some that the DUP would abandon innocent victims is deeply offensive to us and is completely and utterly wrong.

His party has supported compensation from the outset and he and Nigel Dodds have visited Libya and met government frequently about the issue, he said.

He added: In our current discussions with the government, we have raised in two separate meetings the need for this issue to be addressed in the current parliamentary term.

We have secured a commitment from the government to convene a further meeting involving the relevant minister(s) to discuss how we might take the matter forward, including on the issue of frozen Libyan assets in the UK.

We are establishing a coordination committee between our two parties that will enable this type of issue to be addressed at ministerial level.

The reason this matter is not explicitly mentioned in the agreement between the DUP and the government is because we have not yet reached an agreed position or established the legal basis for accessing Libyan assets given that these are the subject of international sanctions and covered by international law.

We remain committed to supporting the wider campaign by innocent victims to secure recompense and reparation from Libya and will seek to use our influence to secure a positive outcome.

Mr Ganesh said he felt reassured.

I have been working closely with Jeffrey and Nigel for 10 years and feel good that they have put this in writing, he said.

Lawyer Matt Jury, who is acting for Libya-IRA victims, initially expressed disappointment with the deal.

The DUP has assured us that the issue of compensation to the variety of victims of Libyan-sponsored IRA terrorism throughout the UK is very much on the agenda and that the government has agreed a mechanism through which discussions will be taken forward at a ministerial level on how a resolution with Libya can be best negotiated, he said.

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Canary Wharf victim reassured by Donaldson on Libya-IRA compensation - Belfast Newsletter