A CONTROVERSIAL law granting amnesty to fugitives from justice in Northern Ireland was abandoned yesterday, with Sinn Fein’s withdrawal of its support for the Bill cited as the main reason.

Peter Hain, the Northern Ireland Secretary, told the Commons that the status of dozens of fugitives — including high-profile figures such as Sinn Fein’s Rita O’Hare — was an “anomaly”, which would have to be addressed in the future.

The embarrassing decision was forced upon the Government by a U-turn by Sinn Fein, the only party not immediately to oppose the Northern Ireland Offences Bill at its first reading in November.

Sinn Fein informed Mr Hain only in late December — after one of its senior party officers, Denis Donaldson, confessed to having been a British agent for 20 years — of its decision no longer to support the legislation, adding that it would tell republican fugitives not to avail themselves of it if the Bill became law. “Now Sinn Fein is opposed because they refused to accept that this legislation should apply to members of the security forces charged with terrorism-related offences,” Mr Hain said.

To exclude the security forces from the provisions of such a Bill would have been illogical, indefensible and we would not do it, Mr Hain said. “Closure on the past cannot be one-sided. That was, and is, non-negotiable,” he said.

Under the process, terrorist fugitives — who committed offences before the 1998 Good Friday agreement — would have been investigated by a tribunal before being released on licence. “Sinn Fein have now said that any republican potentially covered by the legislation should have nothing to do with it.

“But if nobody goes through the process, victims, who would have suffered the pain of having to come to terms with this legislation, would have done so for nothing. That is unacceptable, and I am therefore withdrawing the Bill,” Mr Hain said.

The plan was drawn up in 2001 as part of a side deal between the Government and Sinn Fein and then “parked” until the Provisional IRA announced last summer that it was ending its campaign to end British rule in Ireland.

Mr Hain said: “The Government remains of the view that this anomaly will need at some stage to be faced as part of the process of moving forward. It is regrettable that Northern Ireland is not ready to do so.”

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