MI5 takes over North's national security

MI5 has taken charge of national security in the North for the first time, it was revealed today.

Chief Constable Hugh Orde handed over control to the British intelligence agency, which is opening a new office near Belfast.

The transfer of powers took place at midday on Wednesday, his office confirmed today.

A spokesperson added: “All the necessary service level agreements are in place and this step brings the Police Service of Northern Ireland into line with the arrangements in all other UK police services.”

The handover has been on the cards for some time as part of the new policing and security arrangements in Northern Ireland.

But it means that for the first time in the history of the State, MI5 will have the lead role in national security intelligence gathering, which will range from international terrorism to the threat posed by dissident Irish republicans opposed to the peace process.

The British government has already made it clear that the agency will not have any part in civic policing – a move aimed at reassuring Sinn Féin.

The PSNI and the agency will operate as distinct and entirely separate bodies.

But many republicans and nationalists backing the Chief Constable and his policing service, retain lingering doubts about MI5’s future role because of its controversial history in the North.

A staff of at least 200 will work out of the new offices inside Palace Barracks, a military base at Holywood, Co Down, which are expected to be fully operational by the end of next month.

The building will also serve as a back-up to MI5’s London HQ, Thames House, in case it is ever attacked.

MI5 has operated in Northern Ireland for many years and the secret work of the organisation has been linked to several controversial murders – including the shooting in February 1989 of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane – through the use of loyalist paramilitary and republican informants.

But even though they will have control of national security, an estimated 90% of agents and spies working in Northern Ireland will operate under the control of the PSNI.

As in the case of the nine men detained in Craigavon, Co Armagh yesterday in a crackdown on one of the dissident groups, the so-called Continuity IRA (CIRA), the arrest and interviewing of suspects is a police matter irrespective of whether or not it is a national security investigation.

Once an inquiry moves beyond purely intelligence gathering the police have the lead role.

For instance, if the police in Belfast are investigating a dissident republican bomb team, MI5 will gather the intelligence, but it will be up to the police to decide who to arrest, where to search and in consultation with the agency, what evidence is needed to bring before the courts.

The Chief Constable has already made it clear he would not sign up to any arrangement with MI5 which did not have his complete confidence, and Lord Carlile, the government’s independent monitor of anti-terrorism legislation, will carry out an annual review.