The former priest, who along with former Church of Ireland primate Lord Eames co-chairs the Consultative Group on the Past, says various methods of investigating the past – including tribunals, inquests and court cases – amounts to “a big, big lot of money.”

Writing in the newsletter of lobby group the Committee on the Administration of Justice, Mr. Bradley also rejects claims that the report published in January by the Consultative Group – which proposed controversial payments for victims of the Troubles - “flattens out morality by making everybody the same.”

"Nonsense,” he responds. “ It does the exact opposite; what it says is that all human beings are capable of killing their neighbour in particular circumstances.

"And the history of humankind is that we have killed neighbours and people we don't know; but if we went and met them and listened to them and got to know them, we might be able to move away from a divided past and find mutual forgiveness and reconciliation,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Bradley’s co-chair Lord Eames says it might have been a mistake to put a value on lives lost.

Also writing in the CAJ newsletter, Lord Eames says that the £12,000 recognition sum was based on an equivalent grant already paid out by the Irish government, but admits matters could have been handled differently.

Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward ruled out compensation earlier this year after it prompted a fierce backlash from unionists and some victims groups because it would include republican and loyalist paramilitaries.

Lord Eames said: "We knew that after a very heated period of debate this recommendation might overshadow all the other proposals and be very hurtful within the victim family for those who felt that there was an equivalence being advanced between perpetrator and victim.

"With the benefit of hindsight we might have chosen a different way or different words, we might not even have mentioned a figure."

The Consultative Group was set up to deal with the legacy of the Troubles, during which more than 3,000 people died. Its proposals included a legacy commission which would be led by an international figure.