Orde crticised over IRA threat assessment

Northern Ireland’s chief constable was plunged into a new row today over his refusal to recommend slashing troop levels while the IRA remains ready for war.

Sinn Féin angrily accused Hugh Orde of being rooted in a failed military strategy to suppress republicans.

But the nationalist SDLP claimed his security assessment posed major questions for the Provisionals.

Mr Orde revealed he is not ready to endorse pulling down any military watchtowers or dismantling army bases.

Even though he believes the IRA is not planning to restart its terrorist campaign, the Police Service of Northern Ireland chief insisted their continued capabilities meant the time was not right.

He said: “We need to be convinced they’ve gone away for ever, certainly before the normalisation agenda kicks in.

“My advice to the government at the moment is that we don’t see those conditions. Therefore, I don’t see normalisation as a debating point.”

His verdict provoked fury among republicans who want all army installations scattered across border areas of Armagh and Tyrone scrapped.

Michelle Gildernew, the Sinn Féin MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, claimed he did not know what he was talking about.

She said: “If he had to deal with hundreds of complaints from young people being harassed by members of the PSNI and British Army then he might begin to grasp the seriousness of this situation.

“Demilitarisation is not an option for Mr Orde or his political masters in Whitehall. It is a central component of the Good Friday Agreement.

“Nationalists and republicans see demilitarisation as a touchstone issue for the British commitment to this process.”

Ms Gildernew added: “He appears wedded to the old failed military agenda which has dominated policing in the six counties for so long.”

But Alex Attwood, the SDLP’s policing spokesman, argued Mr Orde’s assessment put more pressure on the paramilitaries to disband.

“The comments of the chief constable are further confirmation that private armies must be gone and gone for good,” he said.

“It is clear that be it the UDA or the IRA, in their actions or preparedness, they are not fully signed up to democratic practice.”

The West Belfast Assembly member claimed republicans may be using the threat of renewed terrorist violence for political leverage.

“The IRA have more explaining to do,” he added.

“Ultimately in and around government and out in the community people are asking if IRA preparedness is a clear strategy to pressurise government. Whatever such an approach is, it is not politics.”