The SDLP last night stood by its call for intelligence handling to be returned to the police from the British intelligence service MI5 despite a chorus of criticism.
Party leader Margaret Ritchie made the call in last Tuesday's Irish Timesfor the Police Service of Northern Ireland to resume intelligence responsibility in the face of the dissident republican threat. She said the Garda, which has intelligence control, had scored recent successes against dissidents.
However her comments were condemned by unionists as politicking and rejected by Sinn Féin. The independent reviewer of British anti-terror laws Lord Carlisle also criticised Ms Ritchie, the South Down MP, claiming her demand was tantamount to a victory for dissident groups.
“Reversing intelligence to the PSNI would be a backwards step,” he said yesterday, “giving victory to the dissidents, which they don’t deserve.” He said: “The people of Northern Ireland don’t want to hand the dissidents a victory of that kind. There is no evidence on the merits of taking the responsibility away from M15 and back to the PSNI would make any improvement and I don’t think that PSNI believe that either.” Lord Carlisle denied MI5 had failed to pass on intelligence to the PSNI as Ms Ritchie had claimed.
“She’s not privy to the information held and obtained by MI5 or the arrangements about the collection of that information” he said.
“If she was privy to that information she would know that her comments are unhelpful and controversial . . . She is right to voice her concerns about the increased level of dissident activity but she’s wrong in her prescription on the solution because she’s wrong about what’s being done.”
However, the SDLP rejected these criticisms. Newry and Armagh Assembly member Dominic Bradley said: “Far from wanting to go backwards we in the SDLP want to find new and better ways of tackling the dissident threat and we don’t believe the British government or its intelligence services can do the job.”
He added: “The greatest single success of the peace process has been the establishment of an accountable . . . policing service with a unique degree of acceptability across the community.
“Accountability at all levels is the very backbone of our new political and policing dispensation. In this context giving control of intelligence-gathering to the unaccountable MI5 was a seriously backward step. Sinn Féin and some unionists may seek to deny this reality, but the anti-democratic dissident gangs will not be defeated from London. They will be defeated by the people of Ireland and the police services they trust all working together.”