A ground-breaking agreement clearing the way for gardaí to serve in Northern Ireland is to be signed tomorrow, it was revealed today.
Under the agreement officers from Northern Ireland will also be able to be seconded to Ireland.
Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy and the Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable Hugh Orde will sign a unique joint protocols which allow personnel exchanges and secondments between the forces.
The signing, at Hillsborough Castle in Co Down, will be attended by the Justice Minister Michael McDowell and Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy.
The agreement comes at a time of unprecedented co-operation between the two forces as they seek to track down the £26.5 million they believe the IRA stole in the Northern Bank robbery in Belfast before Christmas and as the Garda mount a linked crack-down on alleged IRA money laundering.
The idea for exchanges and secondments was first recommended in the Patten Report on the future of policing in Northern Ireland drawn up by former Hong Kong Governor Chris Patten in 1999.
The British and Irish Governments carried forward the idea in an inter-governmental agreement on policing which they signed in 2002.
Under that international agreement the two police services have devised the protocols which now facilitate the movement of officers between their forces.
The SDLP Policing Spokesperson Mr Alex Attwood said it was a welcome development taht builds confidence in policing.
"This is another good day for policing and a further step towards the full implementation of Patten," Mr Attwood said.
"Garda officers in the North and PSNI officers in the South on three year secondments builds confidence in policing and makes policing work better," he added.
Additional reporting PA