Policing needs to change - and Everything else
PLATFORM: CLAIRE HANNA SDLP LEADER AND MP FOR SOUTH BELFAST & MID DOWN
Irish News, April 2nd, 2025
WE MUST deal with our past to get the new beginning to policing back on track.
The challenges facing policing in Northern Ireland aren’t new but haven’t been far from the headlines in recent weeks. Legacy inquests, surveillance of journalists, barriers to PSNI officer recruitment are existing challenges that the SDLP have been raising these matters with London, Dublin and Belfast for the past decade.
The optimism and possibility of the Patten reforms has ebbed away through neglect by inadequate resourcing, failure to deal with the past, weak authority of the Policing Board and the persistence of operational and cultural relics within the PSNI.
The urgency to grip these issues in pursuit of the new beginning to policing and a rule of law society, has been absent. The coordinated effort to back the courage of those stepping forward to serve in the police has been lacklustre.
It is important to commend the approach of Chief Constable Jon Boutcher, the right leader and in the nick of time, but getting policing back on track isn’t a one-person job.
When the PSNI began implementing Patten’s reforms, Catholic representation stood at just 8%. 50:50 recruitment saw this rise to nearly 28% by 2011, proving its effectiveness in creating a police service more reflective of society. But the policy was ended prematurely, leaving progress stalled at around 32%, with no sense of forward momentum.
Legacy, PSNI, Budget Cuts and Tackling Crime
Legacy has undoubtedly compounded the environment the PSNI operate within, constantly pulling resources and headlines back to the past. Through both practice and policy, truth and disclosure are blocked and the hostile environment compounded by PPS decisions in relation to Operation Kenova.
The PSNI itself has outlined the dire consequences of budget cuts, highlighting officer numbers at an all-time low and tasked with picking up slack from the deterioration of other public services.
These numbers are inadequate for maintaining public safety and tackling crime effectively. Put simply, stretched resources put people at risk and make public confidence almost impossible to maintain. The rule of law suffers, recruitment becomes ever more challenging and the cycle continues.
The SDLP have four clear challenges for London, Dublin and Stormont. Firstly, the Department of Justice must stop ducking and diving on the target of 8000 police officers post-2028. The executive needs to commit to funding for 7000 officers by 2028. Ministers should be knocking at the door of the Treasury for £230 million in reserve funding to cover the data leak claims.
Second, the reintroduction of 50:50, as a key part – but not all of a far greater package – to address structural issues facing policing and the rule of law. Ignoring and dismissing recruitment challenges doesn’t magic them away.
Thirdly is, simply, a recommitment to the rule of law. In 1998 the Agreement acted decisively on issues of law, order and justice around which conflict had revolved with interventions on policing, justice, rights and equality. There should be a review of what has worked so well since and why; interrogate the risks to the rule of law today and start the heavy work on its renewal.
Stormont House
People from and beyond these islands – experts, advocates and activists – should be tasked with a review and renewal mandate. And the SDLP will be writing to governments, heads of rule of law agencies, parties, victims and rights bodies in NI and Ireland to outline what review and renewal might look like.
Finally, the acid test, is getting legacy right, based on the needs of victims and survivors not the protection of perpetrators. The temptation to ‘draw a veil’ is a mirage. The past doesn’t go away because governments and former paramilitaries want it to and, however tempting, there is no pathway to a reconciled society that doesn’t go through the tough path of getting to the truth of a squalid and sectarian conflict.
Other countries have found ways of dealing with the past, as recent as 2007 we saw the Historical Memory Law in Spain make efforts to meet the needs and challenges facing victims of the Franco regime.
We have a template in the Stormont House Agreement. Let’s build on it and deal with the past.
SDLP’s support at PSNI’s beginnings was vital – and its challenge now is equally significant
Connla Young, Irish News, April 2nd, 2025
THE SDLP’s call for a review of policing is a significant development. For more than two decades the nationalist party has supported policing arrangements agreed in the wake of the Good Friday Agreement.
In a historic move in 2001 it agreed to support a restructured police force moulded by the Independent Commission on Policing, led by Chris Patten. It would be another six years before Sinn Féin found itself able to give the same support.
The SDLP move cleared the way for 50:50 recruitment, which has since been scrapped, and what many believed would be a new beginning to policing.
Until that point the number of Catholics in the RUC stood at just 8%. Today the figure hovers around 32%, and although an improvement, it falls well short of where many imagined it would be almost 24 years on.
While for many in the nationalist community the RUC represented the strongarm of a hostile ‘Orange state’, it was hoped the PSNI would reflect a changing society. As successive Police Ombudsman reports have shown, the RUC was not just dominated by one section of the community. Some of its members colluded directly with loyalist paramilitary groups in the murder of Catholics.
Since its establishment in 2001 the PSNI, which incorporated the RUC as opposed to replacing it, has obstructed and frustrated attempts to seek justice for those Catholic victims whom state forces had a hand in murdering. The PSNI handling of the past was a key test in the battle for hearts and minds in the nationalist community. For many it has failed miserably. Others take the view that it was never intended to succeed.
“ From a public representative who tends to avoid legacy, her carefully crafted intervention should not be underestimated
A recent recruitment drive saw the number of Catholics seeking to join the force at almost 29% – which can be read as an obvious sign of its failure to convince potential recruits from the nationalist community.
Superintendent Gerry Murray, chair of the Catholic Police Guild of Northern Ireland, recently spoke of his belief that legacy is a “major issue” for Catholics joining. In recent weeks a former Catholic PSNI officer told of sectarianism he faced from ex-colleagues during his service.
Growing disaffection has shown itself in various ways, from hardline republicans recently disrupting policing meetings to moderates speaking out. Deteriorating relations were starkly highlighted in 2023 when respected Catholic priest Fr Tim Bartlett revealed he had no trust in the PSNI, adding that he would “encourage anyone who engages with them to be very careful”.
The continuing decline in support and confidence in policing from within the nationalist community has brought the SDLP to a new position. Claire Hanna highlights that “truth and disclosure are blocked” and refers to “a hostile environment”.
Policing Board a ‘cosy club’
From a public representative who tends to avoid legacy, her carefully crafted intervention should not be underestimated. She now suggests there should be a “review” of what her party believes has worked well over recent decades. She highlights that the “optimism and possibility” of the Patten reforms “has ebbed away” for a number of reasons including “weak authority of the Policing Board and the persistence of operational and cultural relics within the PSNI”.
Ms Hanna’s description of the Policing Board, which has oversight of the PSNI, is telling. At times it resembles little more than a ‘cosy club’ where open and robust scrutiny often appears to be absent.
Not for the first time, the SDLP is stepping out on a political limb when it comes to policing and its dysfunctional relationship with many in the nationalist community.
It now appears the party of Hume and Mallon believes policing has drifted from the core principles put in place by Patten.
Ms Hanna speaks of the need for a critical intervention.
The gauntlet has now been thrown down. How the British establishment, PSNI and the SDLP’s closest political rivals respond remains to be seen.
Grand Central dual-signage ‘not a crisis’ but ‘bad process’
Mark Robinson, Irish News, April 2nd, 2025
DUP leader Gavin Robinson has said the addition of Irish-language signage at Belfast Grand Central Station is not a “crisis” for the executive but that it is “important to put a marker down” over a “bad process” surrounding their approval.
Last week Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins announced that bilingual signage would be added to the £340 million transport hub, six months after it opened.
The signs, expected to cost around £145,000, were welcomed by Irish-language activists as “a major step forward”.
However, some unionists opposed the minister’s move, questioning the use of public money and the process she undertook.
Mr Robinson criticised the minister for her decision to “squander £145,000 on something which is considered significant and controversial” and was made “outside of the legal parameters in which the executive should operate”.
“That’s the marker we’ve put down,” he told the BBC.
Ahead of tomorrow’s executive meeting, he said: “It should be a discussion at the executive, as is the case with any issue which is considered to be controversial.”
“Our minister Gordon Lyons has written to Liz Kimmins, he has asked her to outline exactly how this decision was reached, what consultation was required, what engagement there was with Translink.”
Mr Robinson said it was “not to suggest that this is a crisis” or to “build it up” but added that it was “important” to “say this is how we do business”.
“Ultimately, this could be adjudicated by the courts and the minister could have been found to act unlawfully but I’m not saying we’re there yet because there’s still more information that needs to be gleaned.
“Irish doesn’t offend me. The inappropriate use of Irish offends me and the inappropriate use of public money should offend everybody in Northern Ireland.”
SDLP MLA Mark H Durkan said it was “appropriate” that the signs were added.
“It is correct that the Irish language should be on display front and centre in Grand Central Station,” he said.
“I’m not sure how the erection of a sign in a transport hub is a cross-cutting issue.”
Grand Central row will not derail Stormont but could Kimmins be thrown under the Bus?
Suzanne Breen, Belfast Telegraph, April 2nd, 2025
Stormont clash over Kimmins' decision is all too familiar but derailing institutions is not an option now
Not so long ago, the DUP was ceili dancing, playing camogie and learning a cúpla focal, but there's a very different mood at Stormont as tensions rise in another culture war.
The last time the Irish language was the centre of a dispute in Parliament Buildings, it effectively collapsed the institutions.
Just before Christmas in 2016, Paul Givan decided to cut Liofa's £50,000 funding which was used to take disadvantaged children to the Gaeltacht. It was the straw which broke the camel's back for Sinn Fein as the cash-for-ash scandal raged.
The party pulled out of the Executive weeks later, and devolution wasn't restored for another three years.
The DUP and Sinn Fein are currently at odds over the decision of Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins to approve £150,000 for Irish language signage at Belfast's new Grand Central Station.
The DUP claims that “bad process” has been followed and, under Stormont rules, Kimmins should have brought the matter to the Executive for ministers to collectively consider rather than taking the decision herself.
Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly is raising the issue at Thursday's Executive meeting. A senior Stormont source hopes for “cool heads and calm words” at the meeting. “This is a storm in a teacup,” the insider said.
“I don't think anybody wants to bring the house down over it. These signs should have been installed when the station was being built but devolution was suspended at the time and no such decision was taken.
“It would be ridiculous to collapse Stormont over them. The consequences would be just too great for everybody in Northern Ireland. We need to focus on what matters like tackling health waiting lists, not wasting energy squabbling on something like this.”
Problem for O’Neill and Little-Pengelly
Ultimately, it's up to First Minister Michelle O'Neill and Little-Pengelly to jointly decide what issues are significant or controversial and should be put to a wider vote. The women are likely to disagree on the matter so, unless a compromise is brokered, this one will be sorted by the courts.
Loyalist Jamie Bryson has lodged legal papers to begin a judicial review against the Department for Infrastructure. He alleges Kimmins made a “significant controversial and divisive” decision to “impose” Irish language signs at Grand Central.
Work to install the signs has been paused pending the legal action. Sources say that if the minister doesn't reconsider her stance, Bryson's won't be the only legal action and a DUP minister could also initiate judicial review proceedings.
The party is confident of winning such a challenge. The sources claim Kimmins went on a “solo run” in response to pressure from Irish language campaigners and unfavourably compare her actions to her predecessor John O'Dowd's.
“The Grand Central project has involved managing complex stakeholder relationships. Almost everything was successfully navigated. John O'Dowd didn't seek to pull a fast one over Irish language signs. He always sought agreement before moving forward,” an insider said.
“Liz Kimmins has come into office, and ripped up relations and ripped up his hard work. He spent a year working hard at managing relations in Sandy Row and the whole greater area. It's an enormous slap down of his efforts.
“Putting out a press release with no warning on such a controversial issue is not how you build a shared future. If I were Liz Kimmins I'd be re-examining what I've done. I'd be listening carefully to legal advice and trying to find a middle road rather than going to court to lose.”
Other Stormont insiders strongly dispute that analysis. They say that Kimmins is in regular contact with all stakeholders and met Sandy Row residents last week to discuss the impact the new station is having on their businesses.
Sinn Fein says Kimmins “followed all proper processes and procedures in her role as minister, and that includes her responsibilities and commitment to an inclusive and rights-based society for everyone including Irish language speakers”.
Far from overstepping the mark, there's a growing feeling in nationalist grassroots that Sinn Fein has let the DUP away with too much at Stormont.
Blame game
Irish language campaigners blame the DUP for blocking funding for the cross-border Irish language organisation Foras na Gaeilge. It has been asked why John O'Dowd didn't move on bilingual signs for Grand Central.
Some republicans believe Gordon Lyons' soccer stadia funding should be delayed until progress is made on Casement Park.
It is also argued that the criteria the Department of Education is using to select schools for funding to help tackle underachievement should have been robustly challenged by Sinn Fein.
It is alleged that pupils in deprived communities who need help the most are being denied help because of the £20m RAISE programme criteria. There has been no concerted campaign by Sinn Fein on the issue.
The party is accused of not being sharp or quick enough to see the DUP gameplan and respond.
It is argued that Sinn Fein needs to “play hardball” with its opponent if it's to deliver real change at Stormont. The SDLP is taking a notably strong line on Irish language signage at Grand Central Station.
The Executive's first year was free of any major public disagreement between the big two. With the TUV breathing down the DUP's neck, and Sinn Fein under pressure from its grassroots to toughen up, Stormont's second year might not be quite as smooth.
Loyalist 'show of strength' left me terrified, woman tells court
Ashleigh McDonald, Belfast Telegraph, April 2nd, 2025
MURDER VICTIM'S DAUGHTER FIRST TO GIVE EVIDENCE AT TRIAL OF 'UVF BOSS' AND HIS CO-ACCUSED
A woman who was inside an east Belfast community centre when the building was approached by a gang of up to 40 masked and hooded men said yesterday the incident left her “terrified”.
Toni Johnston, daughter of Ian Ogle, who was murdered yards from his Cluan Place home in January 2019, was called to give evidence at the trial of two men accused of three offences arising from an alleged loyalist show of strength in the Pitt Park/Fraser Pass area of the city.
Alleged UVF boss Stephen Matthews (62) and co-accused Derek George Lammey (60) have both been charged with unlawful assembly, affray and intimidation.
Matthews, from Meadow Park in Ballywalter, and Lammey, of Hill Crest in Bangor, deny all charges levelled against them.
It is the Crown's case the pair were part of a group of around 40 men who, on the afternoon of Tuesday, February 2, 2021, acted in a way that was “dripping with intimidation and designed to engender terror”.
Prior to Ms Johnston being called to give evidence, a prosecuting barrister opened the Crown's case against Matthews and Lammey.
The barrister told the non-jury trial that on the afternoon in question a group of men who “took precautions to hide their identity” gathered in the Pitt Park area.
The Crown KC said the “threatening and intimidating group” then made their way to the Ballymac Centre intent on a fight or a confrontation.
With people inside the premises, it's the Crown's case that when the group arrived, they started “gesturing and shouting out to the occupants inside” before milling in the area for a few minutes, then turning back in the direction from which they came.
The incident was captured on CCTV and on body cameras worn by police officers at the scene.
The barrister said the footage “displayed a large group in a sinister context” who were acting aggressively and gesturing to those in the centre and who were not deterred by the presence of police.
‘Panicking women, children and dogs’
The prosecuting barrister added: “This was not a peaceful demonstration or a meeting of a social club... this was a large, intimidating and threatening group.”
The first witness called to give evidence was Ms Johnston, who confirmed she was inside the Ballymac Centre that afternoon.
Ms Johnston said she had been in her aunt's house in Pitt Park when, at around 1.30pm, her aunt's friend “came rushing into the house and told us it wasn't safe”.
She said she, her aunt and her mother left the house in a panic and made their way to the Ballymac Centre.
When she was asked by the Crown barrister how she found it when they arrived at the centre, Ms Johnston said it was “absolute chaos” as there were “panicking women, children and dogs” present.
At around 2.30pm she looked from an upstairs window and saw a “crowd of men” outside who were “covered head to toe in scarves and dark clothing”.
When questioned about what else she observed, Ms Johnston said that when the group saw police they “sort of back-tracked”.
She was then asked how the incident made her feel, to which she replied: “Terrified.”
Ms Johnston also confirmed that she recognised some of the group, but said: “I wasn't willing to name them, in fear of repercussions for myself.”
Also called to give evidence was a police constable who was present at the scene and who said he recognised both Matthews and Lammey among the group.
From the witness box, the constable confirmed he knew both men well and that, despite them both wearing masks, he was able to identify both.
Concerning Matthews, the officer said he had known him for “many years” and identified him from his height and build, adding that some of his face was visible.
When asked about Lammey, the constable said the accused spoke to him as he passed him as part of the group and that he recognised his voice and his eyes.
The police officer was also questioned by barristers representing both defendants.
When asked by Lammey's barrister Joseph O'Keeffe if he felt threatened by the group that afternoon, he replied: “No, I didn't.”
He was then questioned by Matthews' barrister John Larkin KC and confirmed that the incident occurred during the Covid pandemic, at a time when many people wore masks.
Mr Larkin asked him if, that afternoon, he identified a crime or criminal offence, he replied: “No.”
The court also heard that when the defendants were arrested on February 17, 2021, Lammey didn't speak during an interview with police, while Matthews didn't answer any questions put to him, but gave a pre-prepared statement denying the offences.
The DUP’s Gaeilgeoir faction - at least two members ‘fluent in Irish’
By John Manley, Politics Correspondent, Irish News, April 2nd, 2023
The revelation that there are Gaeilgeoiri in the DUP’s ranks will have made many people’s ears prick up.
For a party that has effectively opposed every measure that promotes the Irish language, it was a surprise when Mr Robinson made the announcement on the Nolan Show on Tuesday.
The DUP hasn’t responded to requests for it to name names, which is perhaps understandable. Party members fessing up about their proficiency in the language isn’t regarded as a vote winner, at least among its traditional base.
However, the Irish News was already aware of that there were Irish speakers in the DUP. In fact, one of them, Dublin-born Catholic Ciarán Ó Coigligh, featured in our pages in 2019.
In an interview in which he voiced reservations about Pope Francis’s papacy and spoke of how the “one per cent” of the population with gay tendencies could overcome their urges by “resisting temptation and withdrawing from that lifestyle”, the 71-year-old academic told how he was an accomplished Gaeilgeoir who previously held left-wing, republican sympathies.
Now a card-carrying member of the DUP, he joined the party “some years ago” and has travelled north on a number of occasions to attend party conferences.
Belfast Councillor
The other DUP member who is known to excel in the native language is Belfast councillor Ruth Brooks, wife of East Belfast MLA David Brooks, and very possibly the “elected representative” mentioned by Mr Robinson.
However, the Titanic representative, who works in Mr Robinson’s Westminster office, remains reticent when it comes to discussing her second language.
Mrs Brooks was brought-up in Co Cork, where her father was a church minister. Irish was part of her education at a state school before the family moved north in the mid-00s.
Despite her personal affiliation, Mrs Brooks has in the past voiced opposition to the promotion of the Irish language by Belfast City Council.
It’s possible there are others in the DUP with more than a mere cúpla focal but they prefer to remain inconspicuous.
