The annual report of the Independent Commissioner for the Holding Centres in Northern Ireland has rejected the conclusion of the UN Special Rapporteur, Mr Param Cumaraswamy, that RUC officers have harassed lawyers.
The sixth annual report, covering last year, was published yesterday.
One instance of alleged RUC harassment in the ICHC 1997 report "was not positively substantiated", the Independent Commissioner, Sir Louis Blom-Cooper, said, "and we cannot, therefore, endorse the Special Rapporteur's conclusion".
Referring to the report of the investigation into a complaint lodged by the murdered Lurgan solicitor, Ms Rosemary Nelson, by the Independent Commission for Police Complaints for Northern Ireland (ICPC), and a related complaint about the conduct of detectives at Castlereagh Holding Centre, Sir Louis said he had not been informed about the progress of the investigation.
Against the backdrop of the Belfast Agreement and the "depressing and universally condemned bombing at Omagh", the report found the "daily routine activity" of the holding centres would "inevitably appear mundane, particularly since we have little or nothing untoward to report".
Of the 36 cases of alleged RUC harassment towards or in respect of solicitors reported to the Independent Commissioner for Police Complaints for Northern Ireland in 1998, 22 related to incidents said to be witnessed by solicitors and 14 were reported by clients to their solicitors.
The 36 cases involved 15 solicitors and 10 arose from alleged incidents at holding centres, mainly Castlereagh.
The volume and flow of intake at the North's three holding centres "has remained much the same as in previous years", but the report noted that in the first three months of 1999 figures indicated a downturn, with 63 people being detained.
A total of 566 people were detained in 1998, 529 men and 37 women; 143 people were detained for longer than 48 hours and 131 people were charged with criminal offences.
The Northern Ireland Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, said she was glad to note that the commissioners "have found nothing untoward in the care and treatment of detainees held in the custody of uniformed officers of the RUC. The government and the Chief Constable of the RUC look forward to the day when the holding centres are no longer needed".