CHIEF CONSTABLE Sir Hugh Orde has stood by his decision to request deployment of British army special regiment members in Northern Ireland to counter the dissident republican threat.
However, his not informing the policing board – which holds him and the PSNI to account – has provoked severe criticism from Sinn Féin and the SDLP.
Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said the decision not to mention the deployment was “shameful and disgraceful”.
The Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed last night that Mr McGuinness had been in contact with the Taoiseach’s office. Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin has not commented, and his department does not yet plan to issue a statement on the controversy which has rattled wider nationalist backing for the new policing dispensation, especially among republicans.
The Irish Times understands that what Sir Hugh refers to as “a tiny number” – perhaps as few as six – intelligence specialists from the Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR) are helping to provide an intelligence picture on the disparate republican groups, especially in counties Derry, Tyrone and Fermanagh.
They may have arrived earlier this week.
Sir Hugh said his decision was taken on operational grounds and did not involve a change in policing policy, involving the policing board.
“The idea that there will be SAS walking around with machine guns, as some people have tried to portray, is rubbish. They are offering support of a purely technical nature . . . They [SRR soldiers] will support my officers in keeping communities safe and keeping dissident republicans under the cosh.”
Unionists have backed his stance. DUP policing board member Ian Paisley jnr said the deployment threatened no one other than the dissidents, and accused the SDLP and Sinn Féin of politicking against each other.
“We’re there to hold the police to account on operational reasons,” he said. “This is a national security issue delivering to police more intelligence, more support, more help in the national security battle to ensure terrorism is defeated.”
UUP Assembly member Basil McCrea said: “This is clearly an operational matter over which the policing board has no remit. [Sir Hugh] is responsible for ensuring the safety of all of the citizens of Northern Ireland and he should have all available resources to this end.”
Mr McGuinness said Sir Hugh’s position on the deployment was “nonsense”.
“I’ve spoken to the Taoiseach’s office and also to Micheál Martin. I’ve been in touch with Downing Street and also with [Northern Secretary] Shaun Woodward to express my opposition to what I consider to be a very negative development.”
Republican Sinn Féin and republican group Éirígí denounced the deployment. Éirígí spokesman Breandan Mac Cionnaith said: “Éirígí makes no apology for calling on all those who remain opposed to the British occupation of the Six Counties to refocus themselves on the task of building popular resistance to that occupation.”
The SDLP’s Alex Attwood said Sir Hugh still had questions to answer.
“No one should diminish the security threat or deny that there is a need for a full policing response. But the PSNI and the British government have got this badly wrong. It will take serious effort, honest answers, new oversight and a different approach to turn things around.”
Sir Hugh is due to address the policing board next week on the issue. He insisted: “There will be no troops back on the streets. I will die in a ditch over that – that is not going to happen. Every single one of those [SRR soldiers] is under the control of the police. They have no executive powers and no executive capabilities.”