Northern Ireland compensation scheme is guaranteed to cause trouble

IF somebody asked you to come up with a scheme to cause trouble in Northern Ireland you could not have done better than to propose compensation for the relatives of terrorists who were killed while attempting to slaughter innocent members of the public.

So just how the Consultative Group on the Past managed to convince itself that this offensive, barmy idea would help bring "closure" to the province escapes any form of explanation.

It has instead, and predictably, created more hostility and division than any other single issue since the signing of the peace agreement.

Equally baffling is why the Group believes that paying blood money to the relatives of murders is acceptable if the pay outs are called "recognition" instead of "compensation".

The idea is, of course, that a similar amount of "recognition" should be paid to the families of the victims. Which, in itself, seems to this outsider, to be patronising and cheap.

What is twelve grand supposed to represent in terms of the loss of both parents or a husband or a child? What are the recipients supposed to do with the money? Go on a cruise and forget about their loss?

Presumably all those relatives of the victims who sought a cash payment have already received one under the Criminal Compensation scheme.

It is yet possible that Prime Minister Gordon Brown, having studied the full report of CGP may decide to ditch these proposed paltry "recognition" payments altogether. Failing that, there is one way of demonstrating the contempt with which this foolish plan deserves to be treated.

All of the 3,000 or so families affected could write to the leader of the Consultative group, the former Church of Ireland Primate Lord Eames, and tell him what to do with his "recognition".

Who knows? It might actually serve to bring both sides a little closure together.