Just £30m committed to PSNI to tackle ‘national security threat’

In 2011 the PSNI received an “exceptional additional” war chest of £200m to tackle the dissident threat over four years to 2015/16.

Now the Secretary of State has confirmed it really was “exceptional.”

Yesterday (Wednesday, January 15) she was asked by Sylvia Hermon MP: “What assurances has the Secretary of State managed to extract from the Treasury that there will be funds to guarantee recruitment to the PSNI?”

Mrs Villiers revealed the cash flow will be considerably decelerated unless a further commitment is made in future.

“A guaranteed total of £200 million in the current spending review and £30 million in the next will be provided to assist the PSNI in its national security work, which will of course enable it to be more effective across the board,” she stated.

“As I said in response to earlier questions, the Executive and the PSNI are currently discussing the additional funding that will be needed in 2015-16 to enable the PSNI to commence the recruitment that the Chief Constable believes is necessary,” she added.

This time last year the Northern Ireland police federation said containing violent republicanism and loyalism, combined with handling public disorder related to parades and flags, meant some officers were on the verge of burn out.Chair Terry Spencer said: “Both loyalist paramilitaries and dissident republicans have been engaged in murder in the last 12 months. So it’s not getting better any time soon and that’s why we believe we need these resources urgently.”