Controversial neighbourhood justice schemes in the North should be vetted to prevent people with criminal or paramilitary links since 1998 working in them, a committee of MPs urged today.

The loyalist Ulster Defence Association’s involvement in criminality remains endemic, the Independent Monitoring Commission said today.

The nationalist SDLP will today launch a hard-hitting critique of British government plans to fund neighbourhood justice schemes in the North.

THE Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC) yesterday reiterated its long-running call for improved vetting procedures for people working with children.

The British government and the SDLP clashed tonight over claims the party had failed to submit proposals for state funded neighbourhood justice schemes in Northern Ireland.

A minister in charge of controversial community justice plans in the North today challenged its critics to come up with better proposals.

British government plans for neighbourhood justice schemes in Northern Ireland are riddled with shortcomings, it was claimed tonight.

COMMUNITY justice proposals for the North could lead to republican “warlords” controlling policing in their neighbourhoods while keeping the PSNI at arm’s length, it was claimed last night.