The Troubles Permanent Disablement Payment Scheme, which pays recognition to people living with disablement through no fault of their own during the Troubles, will stop taking new applications at the end of August. By May this year it had paid out about £139 million since opening on 31 August 2021.

Sinn Fein vice-president Michelle O'Neill said the scheme's future should be discussed. She said no firm decisions have been made, and that many people have benefited from it. She added that victims and survivors need to be supported, and that she would not make a policy decision without further consideration.

DUP MLA Phillip Brett said Troubles victims deserve consistency and support. He said the DUP fought to establish the scheme with innocent victims at its heart. He accused Sinn Fein of trying to rewrite history and said the party had opposed eligibility arrangements that prevented people injured by their own actions while engaged in terrorism from benefiting.

Brett added that there is a legitimate discussion about making sure innocent victims who are entitled to support are not unfairly excluded, but he said Sinn Fein cannot rewrite history.

O'Neill was also asked about her attendance at a commemoration for Provisional IRA member Thomas McElwee. McElwee was arrested for his involvement in a bomb attack on a shop in Ballymena in 1976 in which Yvonne Dunlop, a 27-year-old mother of three, was killed.

O'Neill said she is sorry for every loss of life and is mindful of families who have grieved for years. She said everyone has a right to remember their dead and that people should create space to allow each other to do so respectfully. She said she had spoken with the McElwee family on Sunday and described her position as consistent.