27 May 2026
SDLP Newry & Armagh MLA Justin McNulty has welcomed a High Court ruling to overturn a decision not to award compensation to a father and daughter through the Troubles Permanent Disability Payment Scheme.
The court quashed the decision not to award a payment to Newry woman Jeanitta Larkin and her father Peter McCabe who was shot in his family home by the IRA in 1990 in front of his children.
They had been told they did not qualify for the scheme as it was a paramilitary-style attack.
Newry & Armagh MLA Justin McNulty said:
“I have been working with Jeanitta and the McCabe family throughout this process as they fought tirelessly to highlight the injustice of being denied this payment. It is very regrettable that the horror and trauma they experienced was dismissed and that they were forced to take this matter all the way to the High Court.
“I was with the McCabe and Larkin families today while the ruling was announced and they are very relieved that they will now receive the compensation they deserve. This family are clearly direct victims of the Troubles and that should have been recognised when the scheme’s criteria were first established.
“This ruling raises important questions about other families who may now be eligible for compensation, particularly with the deadline for applications approaching. The Victims’ Payment Board must urgently clarify what this judgment means for the future operation of the scheme, including a possible extension to the application process, and ensure everyone entitled to support is able to access it.”