Budget March 2023: Tories announce extra £3 million to take on paramilitaries in Northern Ireland

He pledged, “in Northern Ireland, up to £3m to extend the Tackling Paramilitarism Programme”.

It is not 100% clear what programme he has in mind, though, since there doesn’t appear to be a scheme which goes by that exact name.

However, there is a project named the Tackling Paramilitarism, Criminality and Organised Crime Programme, also known as Ending The Harm, which began in 2016.

It is funded jointly by the NI Executive and UK government.

For 2021-24, the Executive had pledged £8m per year, and the UK government pledged “circa £5m per year, plus £10m over three years, ring-fenced for the Executive Office-led Communities in Transition projects”.

It is described by the NI government as “promoting the use of exclusively peaceful and democratic means and upholding the rule of law across all communities, based as it is on the fundamental principles of fairness, impartiality and democratic accountability, including support for policing and the courts”.

It involves “engagement and participation of a broad range of stakeholders” and says “projects are tailored to take consideration of local contexts, and to empower and support citizens”.