Northern Secretary Peter Hain, after months of doubt about whether the project would go ahead, has confirmed the proposed £130 million (€193 million) PSNI training college is to be built on the Desertcreat site, just outside Cookstown in Co Tyrone.
Mr Hain made the announcement at an international policing conference at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast yesterday, where Sir Desmond Rea, chairman of the Northern Ireland Policing Board, urged the creation of a truth commission in Northern Ireland.
The college will be integrated with the prison, fire and rescue services at a cost of £130 million, which will be fully provided by the British government - notwithstanding some previous speculation that the Government might provide some of the funding.
Mr Hain said: "The new facility will provide excellent training facilities to meet the needs of each of the organisations. Of paramount importance will be the ability of the new college to deliver quality training, and I believe that this integrated approach is the best way to achieve this."
Responding to the news, Alex Attwood, SDLP policing spokesman and Assembly candidate for West Belfast, said: "The British government should have made this commitment a long time ago. It is disappointing that it took them so long to recognise the benefits of a moderate capital contribution to the new policing college."
Ian Paisley jnr, standing in North Antrim, welcomed the move. "The decision to join the colleges will deepen their appeal and will ensure it is able to offer training on a world-class scale," he said.
Meanwhile, another conference was held beside the Waterfront venue by a variety of human rights groups. It featured a panel of those affected by collusion, including Raymond McCord snr, Geraldine Finucane and Alan Brecknell, whose father was killed in an attack on a bar in south Armagh in 1975. On the proposal for a truth commission for Northern Ireland, Mr McCord, who is an Independent Assembly candidate in North Belfast, questioned the practicality of a commission.
"There is no point having a commission if one section of the community is denying collusion. Maybe those who deny collusion can join a truth commission and start telling us about their past, " he said.
Ms Finucane, widow of murdered Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane, expressed similar concerns: " I would worry any commission would end up being superficial."