Orde briefing on powers transfer

The North's most senior policeman Hugh Orde will brief an Assembly committee today on the proposed transfer of policing and justice powers.

Orde, the Chief Constable of the PSNI, will appear before the Assembly and Executive Review Committee at Stormont amid signs that the proposed devolution of policing and justice powers will not happen by the target date of May.

Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward has identified the transfer of powers from the Northern Ireland Office to a new Stormont Justice Ministry as a key target during 2008.

However the British government has also accepted that this objective, which Mr Woodward characterises as the last piece in the devolution jigsaw, may not happen by May.

Stormont First Minister and Democratic Unionist leader Ian Paisley has expressed doubt as to whether his community would have sufficient confidence to allow the transfer of powers to take place.

Unionists have insisted the IRA Army Council would have to be disbanded before such confidence exists.

They have also been concerned about claims that Provisional IRA members were involved in the murder last October of south Armagh man Paul Quinn over the border in Co Monaghan.

Sinn Féin regard the transfer of policing and justice responsibilities as crucial and claim it was a key factor in influencing the party last year to participate in policing in the North.

The Assembly and Executive Review Committee is chaired by Democratic Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson and has a Sinn Féin deputy chairman Raymond McCartney.

The Ulster Unionists and the SDLP are also involved on the committee.