Crunch meeting over North's police budget

Members of the North's Policing board will meet Security Minister Paul Goggins today to demand government fills a multi-million pound hole in the policing budget.

Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde proposed cuts to balance his books, but this was rejected by the Policing Board where representatives insisted government must pay bills left over from the Troubles.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) is struggling to pay pensions to thousands of retired officers and faces a £90m (€105m) compensation bill for officers who suffered hearing damage during weapons training in the 1970s.

Mr Goggins will meet Policing Board members today at Stormont, where he will discuss their concerns about the burden on police budgets.

Ulster Unionist policing board member Basil McCrea said decisions had to be taken quickly to avoid radical cuts.

“We need action today,” he said. “Many of these costs are outside our control...it is unreasonable for us to fund such issues at the cost of operational matters.”

When the Royal Ulster Constabulary was transformed into the PSNI the force was downsized in recognition of the changing security situation in the North, but the shift has left the service with a massive pensions bill to pay.

Orde is on record as saying he does not want to put a halt to recruitment, which is made on a 50/50 basis between Protestants and Catholics to ensure a cross-community police service.