Terrorism victims and airport ’embarrassment’

Survivors of terrorism and an airport “embarrassment” are all across Tuesday’s front pages.

The government said it had secured key changes to the deal after Theresa May made a last-minute trip to Strasbourg for talks.

The prime ministers’s bid to secure changes to the backstop includes a “legally binding joint instrument”, the paper reports.

Theresa May said it would guarantee that the EU “cannot act with the intent of applying the backstop indefinitely”.

A DUP spokesperson responded: “We will be taking appropriate advice, scrutinising the text line by line and forming our own judgement.”

The paper reports that the airport saw queues for security snaking out the front entrance of the building.

Managing director Graham Keddie admitted the travel fiasco had been “embarrassing and humiliating” for staff.

However, Mr Keddie said that construction work had reduced the number of lanes from six to five, and vowed to have it sorted by Thursday.

He added that the airport planned to further improve passenger flow before Easter, with eight security lanes being put in place.

The Newsletter leads with an apology from the Northern Ireland Victims’ Commissioner Judith Thompson, who did not turn up at an event for survivors of terrorism at Stormont.

The victims met on a special designated European day of remembrance and were joined by about 300 delegates.

UUP MLA Mike Nesbitt described the event as “the most powerful in the Stormont calendar” suggesting Judith Thompson should apologise for her absence.

A spokesperson for the commissioner’s office said the event “coincided” with another – the launch of a new report on dealing with the legacy of the Troubles.

Mr Nesbitt then argued that the commission is “big enough to cover two events”.

And in the Irish News this Tuesday, Northern Ireland’s first police ombudsman Nuala O’Loan has said Karen Bradley is not the “appropriate person” to a appoint a new ombudsman.

Baroness O’Loan claimed that the secretary of state’s involvement would undermine trust in the watchdog, the paper reports.

Mrs Bradley has faced calls to resign after telling the House of Commons that killings by police and military during the Troubles were not crimes.

The current ombudsman Michael Maguire will retire in July and in the absence of a Stormont assembly, the secretary of state will appoint his replacement.

Baroness O’Loan said: “I think it’s critical for trust in the ombudsman’s office that the person appointed can be seen to have been appointed impartially”.