Hot Pursuit Rights Sought

The Irish border may soon be much less of a barrier to policing if a change proposed by the DUP goes ahead.

If approved, police could pursue suspects across the Irish border – in both directions – with gardai allowed to cross into Northern Ireland and the PSNI into the Irish Republic - in vehicle pursuits.

However, at present, PSNI and gardai officers have to stop when they reach the border.

It has been reported that Ian Paisley Jnr wants to raise the issue at the next meeting of the British Irish Council in December, reflecting the way that other European countries allow police forces to cross their borders in pursuit of criminal suspects.

However, the Irish Justice Minister Brian Lenihan is hedging his bets and said that while not participating in the Schengen agreement – which allows cross-border pursuits in other countries – this was not a barrier to effective cooperation between the PSNI and the gardai."

However, he said the Irish government was drawing up procedures to participate in some parts of the agreement