Sinn Fein involvement in selecting new PSNI chief constable branded 'perverse'

​The inclusion of a former IRA bomber on a panel responsible for selecting a new PSNI chief constable has been branded "perverse" by Jim Allister.​
By Mark Rainey
Published 26th Sep 2023, 12:57 BST
Updated 26th Sep 2023, 13:31 BST
Policing Board member Gerry Kelly. Photo: Liam McBurney/PA WirePolicing Board member Gerry Kelly. Photo: Liam McBurney/PA Wire
Policing Board member Gerry Kelly. Photo: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

The TUV leader said that having Sinn Fein's Gerry Kelly involved in the process is the outworkings of the “constant pandering to republicanism”.

Former chief constable Simon Byrne resigned from the post earlier this month after a High Court judge ruled that two probationer constables had been unlawfully disciplined for an arrest made following an event commemorating the 1992 Sean Graham bookmakers massacre.

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Mr Allister said: “What a commentary on our public and policing affairs that an Old Bailey bomber and prison escapee will sit on the selection panel to pick the new chief constable.”

TUV leader Jim Allister. Photo: Stephen Hamilton/Press Eye.TUV leader Jim Allister. Photo: Stephen Hamilton/Press Eye.
TUV leader Jim Allister. Photo: Stephen Hamilton/Press Eye.

Gerry Kelly has been an MLA for North Belfast since 1998 and sits on the NI Policing Board.

He escaped from the Maze Prison in 1983 while serving a jail sentence for his role in the 1973 bombing of the Old Bailey in London.

Mr Kelly has been unequivocal in his condemnation of dissident republican violence, and has called on the various groupings to “disband and get off the back of the community”.

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However, Mr Allister has claimed that the PSNI will remain “beholden to Sinn Fein” while such senior Sinn Fein figures are involved in selecting a chief constable.

“This could only happen in a Northern Ireland shaped by the perverse process of constant pandering to republicanism,” Mr Allister said.

“It should not be forgotten that Sinn Fein buy in to policing was sold to unionists as a victory.”

Mr Allister added: “Looking at the sway that republicans hold over policing it hardly looks like a victory now.

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“Nor should it be forgotten that when I brought forward a [Stormont] bill which would have removed Gerry Kelly from the Policing Board it was defeated by the pan-nationalist/Alliance Party coalition.”

Board chair Deirdre Toner said the new chief constable “will require the requisite strategic thinking and ability to develop and deliver organisational and operational plans in the short, medium and longer term, with the support of the service executive team, and with … agencies and stakeholders”.

The annual salary is £219,894.