Unionists tonight challenged Northern Ireland Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde over his claims that political stalemate at Stormont is fuelling the violence of dissident republicans.
Sir Hugh faced questions from the DUP at a Westminster Committee hearing, but he stood firm over claims that the deadlock was creating a dangerous climate for his officers.
In a further exchange, Labour MP Kate Hoey accused Sir Hugh of failing to use the term ‘Northern Ireland’, asking if he deliberately opted instead for the term ‘the North’, favoured by nationalists.
The comments came amid a wide-ranging discussion where Sir Hugh and senior colleagues from the PSNI gave evidence to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee.
The officers discussed levels of co-operation with gardai and while their evidence was broadly positive, Sir Hugh faced challenges from the DUP’s Gregory Campbell and Northern Ireland-born MP Ms Hoey.
The Stormont cabinet has not met for four months as a result of the split between the DUP and Sinn Fein over plans to devolve policing and justice powers to the Assembly.
The DUP has insisted the unionist community does not yet support the move and today Mr Campbell asked Sir Hugh to explain why he has publicly linked the political stand-off with dissident violence.
“It’s very clear,” said Sir Hugh. “What I mean is we have intelligence that indicates that the senior so-called dissident republicans, who are exploiting the next generation, see this as an opportunity...They see the fact that Stormont is not operating as Stormont was envisaged.
“They see this suggestion that by now devolution of policing and justice should have taken place. That’s all political, but the point I’m making is as long as that situation remains they will continue to exploit it."
“As long as they continue to exploit it, the risk to my frontline officers increases. It’s as a simple as that,” he said.
Ms Hoey also challenged Sir Hugh on what she said was his choice of language.
Nationalists and republicans often opt for the phrase ‘the North‘ as a preferred option to the state’s official title ‘Northern Ireland‘, but Sir Hugh denied any such decision on his part.
Ms Hoey said: “It’s just a question of language you use Sir Hugh. I get quite confused.
“You talk quite a lot about the Republic, and you refer to ‘in the Republic’ and ‘in the North’.
“I mean, don’t you like to use the term ‘Northern Ireland’, because you haven’t used it actually once yet.”
Sir Hugh replied: “I am the Chief Constable for the Police Service of Northern Ireland. I use it all the time.”
PA