The Northern Ireland Public Prosecution Service will improve the delivery of justice and be given the resources it needs, the Attorney General for England and Wales said yesterday.
Lord Goldsmith told The Irish Times the new service would not repeat the serious failures of its sister organisation in England and Wales.
He was taking part in the official unveiling of the Public Prosecution Service in Belfast, introduced under the terms of the Good Friday agreement.
Lord Goldsmith said: "Following the biggest review that has taken place in a generation in the criminal justice system, the recommendations were that there should be a new Public Prosecution Service which is independent, fair and effective - serving the people of Northern Ireland in a way which is fit for the 21st century." He denied this was an implicit criticism of the system which operated throughout 30 years of conflict.
It is envisaged the new service will handle all prosecutions, taking responsibility away from the police and freeing up senior officers.
Lord Goldsmith said this meant its annual caseload will rise from 10,000 to 75,000. The reforms will also "help to establish a clear separation between the investigation and the prosecution and also increase accountability and transparency".
The establishment of regional offices, new services for victims and witnesses, independent inspection, a requirement for annual reports would all aid transparency and public confidence.
It was pointed out that the caseload is about to increase nearly eight-fold, but the staff will rise only from 150 to 580. Will the level of resources meet the task? "I believe it will," he said. "Plainly it is important to test the system which is why there's going to be a pilot \ in Belfast this year, and in Omagh next year, with the full service being run out from April 2005. I've seen the degree of care that's been taken by the Director [of Public Prosecutions] and his staff."
A similar reform in England and Wales established the Crown Prosecution Service some 15 years ago, but its introduction was dogged by enduring problems. The Attorney General was frank, saying the reforms were introduced too quickly and the service was under-resourced.
He also recognised that Northern Ireland has special requirements and should not merely receive a carbon copy of British plans.
"Northern Ireland is going further than England and Wales already," he said. "The responsibility [of the new service] to make decisions in all cases including conditional cautions and warnings is not something which we have at the moment in England and Wales. Another example is restorative justice. Northern Ireland will be in the forefront of development of restorative justice."
Asked if there are worries about reform of the administration of justice in a still-divided community, the Attorney General remains confident the changes will go down well.
"It is very important that there is a justice system that serves the whole community, even at those times when communities divide. I think that there are two important aspects that are relevant to the prosecution service. The first is to have a service which has got regional base and therefore is in the community that it serves.
"Secondly, people \ see that decisions taken on prosecutions are impartial, they are objective, they are based on evidence, they are consistent, they don't vary from one place to another, and that they are being taken by people who are patently independent of police and ultimately of government as well."