Prime Minister releases statement on future of MI5

Prime Minister Tony Blair has today said that the PSNI and MI5 would operate as distinct and separate bodies in Northern Ireland.

The Prime Minister's announcement came in an attempt to break the current deadlock over the issue of policing among republicans, and therefore help the current political process to move forward.

MI5 are due to take over the responsibility of national security in Northern Ireland later this year.

Earlier today, Mr Blair released a statement to the House of Commons, which said that the PSNI and the Security Service will be completely “distinct and entirely separate bodies.”

"All necessary interaction between the Security Service and the PSNI, for example in response to the threat of international terrorism, will, as directed by the Chief Constable, be by way of liaison. No police officers will be seconded to or under the control of the Security Service.

"Policing is the responsibility solely of the PSNI. The Security Service will have no role whatsoever in civic policing.”

The statement continued by saying that all PSNI officers will be employed by the PSNI and will be accountable solely to the Chief Constable and to the Policing Board.

Mr Blair added that the police Ombudsman would still hold statutory powers to hold police officers to account and would also have access to all information held by the police.

Finally the Prime Minister confirmed that Lord Carlisle would annually review the operation of the arrangements for handling national security-related matters in Northern Ireland.

Commenting on the Prime Minister’s written statement, Ulster Unionist Policing Spokesperson Fred Cobain said: “This statement may offer much delight for Sinn Fein, but it creates a confused mess for the rest of us to deal with.

“I fear that, in his rush to appease Sinn Fein, Mr Blair has lost his way completely by raising further questions marks over the Policing and Justice Ministry.”

Meanwhile, Sinn Féin Spokesperson on Policing and Justice, Gerry Kelly, said that “intense and detailed negotiations between Sinn Féin and the British government in recent weeks have secured the reversal of the British government's proposal to integrate the PSNI and MI5.”

Mr Kelly said: "Our objective has been to firewall local policing from the malign and corruptive control of MI5. The proposals today remove MI5 from policing structures in Ireland.”

He added that the St. Andrews proposals would have embedded MI5 into civic policing with the real potential of again creating a force within a force.

Mr Kelly concluded: "Sinn Féin is determined to achieve a new beginning to policing. One of our key demands in these negotiations was to stop MI5 having any role in civic policing here. Today's proposals will go a long way towards achieving that objective and go far beyond the proposals agreed by the SDLP at St. Andrews."

(EF/KMcA)