Police compensation row: Calls grow for Naomi Long to directly apologise to officers after she 'misspoke' by announcing £119m fund that isn't definite yet
Calls are growing for the Justice Minister to formally apologise to police officers after she announced a “ring-fenced” £119m compensation fund that still hasn’t been approved.
The fund is supposed to bring to an end a long-running legal battle after a data breach put the names, ranks and roles of more than 9,000 serving officers and staff into the hands of dissident republicans.
Even though Naomi Long appeared to unveil it as a finalised deal yesterday morning, it rapidly turned out that contrary to her claims the cash pot hasn’t been signed off by the Stormont Executive yet. The minister now says she “misspoke”, admitting it’s not yet “done and dusted”.
The minster now says the compensation fund will be put to the Executive next week and then voted on.
Yesterday’s “misspoken” announcement and today’s climbdown both came on BBC Radio Ulster’s Stephen Nolan Show, but neither appearance saw her directly apologise to officers for a situation that’s said to have damaged morale.
Calls are now growing for her to issue a formal apology, with both Police Federation of Northern Ireland chair Liam Kelly and UUP MLA Doug Beattie arguing one is warranted.
Though the minister herself told the News Letter she already had, as she’d apologised to the Chief Constable and that “extends to all officers and staff”.
Mr Kelly said the minister “needs to deliver an unequivocal apology” for a mistake that has “angered officers”.
“Our members were left speechless and massively disappointed,” said the policing body head. “Only a proper apology and not something half-hearted will do.”
Meanwhile Mr Beattie said he didn’t believe there had been a proper apology in this morning’s interview.
“Mistakes happen, and all it takes is for those mistakes to be put right and an apology offered for making a mistake,” he said. “That was not what I heard from the Justice Minister.
“Others can make their minds up, but [this morning’s interview] felt like a cynical attempt to hide at best a mistake, and at worst incompetence.”
Mr Beattie accused Mrs Long of “running ahead of herself by stating something that was not accurate”. That, he said, is a mistake that can happen to anyone, but in this case is “a mistake that has real life consequences for police officers, staff, and their families”.