A NEW body set up by the British government to investigate Northern Ireland’s Troubles deaths has the powers to carry out effective investigations without the provision for conditional immunity for offenders, its head has said.

Northern Ireland’s former lord chief justice Sir Declan Morgan leads the new Independent Commission for Reconciliation & Information Recovery (ICRIR).

Sir Declan has also insisted that the British government cannot veto or prevent any reports delivered by the commission.

The ICRIR, established by Britain’s controversial Legacy Act, will take over responsibility for hundreds of unresolved Troubles cases.

The new Act received royal assent last year despite widespread opposition from political parties and victims’ organisations in Northern Ireland and the Irish government.

Aspects of the laws include a limited form of immunity from prosecution for Troubles-related offences to those who co-operate with the ICRIR.

In February, a judge at Belfast High Court ruled that the provision for conditional immunity was not compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Westminster is appealing against that finding.

The Irish government has also launched an interstate legal case against the new laws.