Source · Select Committees · Northern Ireland Affairs Committee
Second Report - The effect of paramilitary activity and organised crime on society in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland Affairs Committee
HC 43
Published 1 February 2024
Recommendations
2
Deferred
Para 25
Urge Executive to support communities addressing paramilitary murals and flags
Recommendation
Memorials, commemorative artefacts and flags glorifying paramilitary groups serve as a visual signifier of the coercive control that such groups attempt to have over communities and can retraumatise the victims and survivors of paramilitary violence. The PSNI does not always …
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Government Response Summary
The government response completely deflects from the recommendation concerning paramilitary murals, instead discussing engagement between DWP and DfC on social security, credit services, and the development of a childcare strategy for Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland Office
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3
Acknowledged
Para 32
Engage DWP to improve universal credit access and develop NI childcare strategy
Recommendation
The high cost of living in Northern Ireland has contributed to a ‘cruel storm’ which paramilitary groups are exploiting to target vulnerable individuals. Single mothers in precarious financial situations are being targeted by paramilitary groups engaging in illegal money lending …
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Government Response Summary
The government acknowledged concerns about illegal money lending and stated the Northern Ireland Office will continue regular engagement with DWP to discuss these issues. It noted existing credit advice on the NI Direct website and deferred the childcare strategy development to the restored NI Executive, offering UK Government support for knowledge sharing.
Northern Ireland Office
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4
Acknowledged
Para 36
Set out approval process for NI EVAWG strategy during Executive suspension
Recommendation
We are concerned to hear about the gatekeeping of funding and other activity by paramilitary groups which has increasingly excluded women and the community and voluntary sector since the signing of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. This has implications for the …
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Government Response Summary
The government welcomes the restoration of the NI Executive, seeing it as an opportunity for the Executive to progress a strategy on ending violence against women and girls, and highlights existing funding for related projects.
Northern Ireland Office
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5
Accepted
Introduce a system-wide and Government-wide commitment to trauma-informed practice in Northern Ireland.
Recommendation
There is a correlation between paramilitary activity, deprivation, mental health issues and trauma. We therefore support the trauma-informed and public health approach of the Tackling Paramilitarism Programme. The Government must collaborate with the Executive to introduce forthwith a system-wide and …
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Government Response Summary
The government commits to collaborating with the Executive to further embed trauma-informed approaches in Northern Ireland, welcomes the EPPOC Sponsor Group's commitment to develop a trauma-informed Programme for Government, and will promote trauma-informed policymaking within UK Government departments in NI.
Northern Ireland Office
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6
Accepted
Para 48
Undertake an audit of Northern Ireland’s framework for safeguarding children from paramilitary exploitation.
Recommendation
To counter the risk and reality of people romanticising paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland, it is crucial that public agencies and wider civic society use language rooted in safeguarding and child protection when describing the activities of these criminal gangs …
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Government Response Summary
The government notes that the NI Executive's Child Criminal Exploitation Task and Finish Group is developing a CCE definition aligned with Home Office guidance, with updated policies expected by year-end. The CCE action plan and draft MSHT Strategy also aim to improve awareness of child exploitation offences and NRM referrals.
Northern Ireland Office
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7
Acknowledged
Para 53
Embed a safeguarding approach to prosecute paramilitary activity as modern slavery and exploitation.
Recommendation
Low prosecution rates for those who commit violent crime can act as a barrier to reporting the crimes of paramilitary groups and serve to perpetuate the impunity with which these groups act. An effective criminal justice system able to identify …
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Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the importance of safeguarding and prosecuting paramilitary-related crimes, noting that the devolved NI Executive is taking forward work including a Child Criminal Exploitation Task and Finish Group and an MSHT Strategy, which aim to strengthen the criminal justice system.
Northern Ireland Office
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8
Accepted
Share good practice to improve NRM awareness and use among NI welfare and justice agencies.
Recommendation
We are concerned about the lack of use of the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) in NI. The NRM is a tool for public agencies to provide a strategic safeguarding response to paramilitary activity. While we acknowledge that support for modern …
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Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the importance of the NRM, noting that the NI Executive's Child Criminal Exploitation Task and Finish Group's action plan includes increasing NRM awareness among agencies, and the draft Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Strategy also aims to improve NRM use.
Northern Ireland Office
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10
Acknowledged
Para 64
Prioritise ending paramilitary harm as a strategic commitment in the Programme for Government.
Recommendation
Tackling paramilitarism in Northern Ireland requires a whole of Government approach. While we are mindful that it is ultimately a matter for any newly formed Executive to decide its priorities for government, we urge the next administration in Northern Ireland …
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Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the need for a whole-of-government approach to tackling paramilitarism and sees the Executive's restoration as an opportunity to ensure this work remains a priority.
Northern Ireland Office
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11
Acknowledged
Undertake updated analysis of paramilitary activity to inform national security strategy scope in Northern Ireland.
Recommendation
There is a live debate as to whether the current scope of national security, as it relates to Northern Ireland, should be revised to include threats other than those to democracy and the state, such as paramilitary activity like drug …
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Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the need for a whole-of-government approach and commits to keeping under ongoing review the effectiveness of mechanisms for coordinating responses to threats from terrorism, paramilitarism, and organised crime, stating roles are well understood.
Northern Ireland Office
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12
Deferred
Para 77
Extend multi-year funding period for Tackling Paramilitarism Programme Phase Three to five years.
Recommendation
We welcome the announcement in the 2023 Budget of an additional £3 million for 2024/25 to extend the Tackling Paramilitarism Programme in Northern Ireland. The Programme is carrying out vital work to develop strategies to tackle paramilitarism systematically. Paramilitarism is …
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Government Response Summary
The government does not commit to extending the multi-year funding for the Tackling Paramilitarism Programme to five years or maintaining specific funding levels. It instead states that Additional Security Funding is for PSNI counter-terrorism work and that day-to-day policing and spending decisions remain the responsibility of the Executive.
Northern Ireland Office
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13
Deferred
Para 83
Establish improved funding arrangements for Northern Ireland's counter-terrorism and justice budgets.
Recommendation
The Government’s contribution to additional security funding for counter-terrorism has recently stagnated despite the continuing terrorist threat, and the justice budget in Northern Ireland has risen by just 3% compared to respective increases of 70% 50 The effect of paramilitary …
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Government Response Summary
The government states that policing and police funding are devolved matters for the NI Executive to determine, while confirming its existing Additional Security Funding of £32m per year until 2024/25, which is not for day-to-day policing.
Northern Ireland Office
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14
Deferred
Para 86
Increase PSNI officer headcount to at least 7,500 through recurrent funding provision.
Recommendation
We are concerned at the budgetary shortfall that the PSNI is facing, not least in the context of recent security incidents evidencing starkly the ongoing threat from terrorist and paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland. The financial liabilities that the Service …
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Government Response Summary
The government states that increasing PSNI officers to 7,500 is an NI Executive priority, and policing in Northern Ireland is a devolved matter for the Executive and Department of Justice to resource.
Northern Ireland Office
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15
Accepted in Part
Embed a standard code of practice for community groups receiving public funding to tackle paramilitarism.
Recommendation
We are concerned to hear claims that paramilitary organisations act as gatekeepers within some communities and masquerade as community organisations to receive public money. The Government must embed a standard code of practice and behaviour that all community-level organisations availing …
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Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the risk of paramilitary gatekeeping, stating that existing funding mechanisms have conditions and a behaviours framework is in place. It supports the adoption of this framework and is undertaking wider work to consider how similar frameworks can be implemented across non-Executive funding.
Northern Ireland Office
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16
Accepted
Para 102
Conduct a scoping exercise to assess public support for a paramilitary group transition process.
Recommendation
We have heard evidence both for and against the establishment of formal process of Group Transition. On the one hand, we are concerned that a Group Transition process aimed at the disbandment of paramilitary groups could inadvertently risk reinforcing the …
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Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the recommendation for a formal paramilitary group transition process and is committed to taking forward further work, including independent scoping and engagement, to assess public support and merit for such a process.
Northern Ireland Office
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Conclusions (3)
1
Conclusion
Acknowledged
The term ‘paramilitarism’ is complex and contested in Northern Ireland. We heard how use of the term can risk romanticising the presence of gangs who engage in overt criminality and attempt to exercise coercive control over the communities they seek to prey upon. At the same time, however, terms such …
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the importance of safeguarding children and young people from abuse by paramilitary or organised crime gangs.
9
Conclusion
Acknowledged
Para 62
The continued presence of paramilitary groups, 25 years on from the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, represents a festering wound on society in Northern Ireland. Given the delineation of responsibilities between the Government and the Northern Ireland Executive in tackling terrorist and paramilitary activity in Northern Ireland, the lack of an Executive …
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the assessment that tackling paramilitarism requires a whole-of-government approach, noting the Executive's restoration as an opportunity to prioritize this work and ensure coordination.
17
Conclusion
Deferred
Paramilitary groups do not resemble cohesive units, rather they are composed of sub-groups that vary in location, strength of affiliation and level of criminal activity. We have heard that some sub-groups are readying themselves for transition, whilst others show little appetite to transition away from criminality. We see some merit …
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges recommendations for a formal process to facilitate paramilitary group transition and commits to undertaking further independent scoping and engagement to assess its merit and support.