The Garda are a fine police force and do an excellent job
for the people of the Republic of Ireland.
They co-operated with the Royal Ulster Constabulary within
the narrow confines laid down by the Eire Government, when
it came to terrorism, during the 30 years of what has become
known as the Troubles.
Nevertheless, there were serious prima facie allegations
regarding collusion by individuals within the Garda with the
I.R.A., and there have been calls for inquiries into the murders
of Judge Gibson and his wife, and also two senior R.U.C. officers
murdered on their way back to Northern Ireland after meeting
Garda chiefs in Dundalk.
There has been deep suspicion that I.R.A. sympathisers have
been within the ranks of the Garda at high level for years.
Whatever the merit in such allegation, it has to be said
that the Garda has shown more inclination to co-operate in
recent years in the vigilance against terrorism and paramilitary
groups, and that has to be welcomed.
But that is as far as it should go, and the British Government
should not be tempted to go down any road which would lead
to Garda police officers being stationed in Northern Ireland,
or doing beat duty within this part of the United Kingdom.
Such a scenario would have been until fairly recently belonging
to the world of myths and fables – an utterly crazy idea,
and anyone suggesting it would have been laughed out of court.
But ‘well informed’ sources have been quoted recently
in sections of the media as suggesting that Southern police
officers could soon be transferred to Northern Ireland for
active police duties.
Lord Kilclooney, formerly John Taylor, quite rightly debunked
such a suggestion and pointed out that Southern police officers
are required to take an oath to serve the Irish Republic.
How could officers, citizens of a foreign country, be used
to serve in a part of the United Kingdom, especially bearing
in mind the long history of division in this country, and
the circumstances in which two separate States were formed
in Ireland.
Northern Ireland is British, it is a part of the United Kingdom,
and as such must be policed by men and women whose loyalty
and allegiance is to the Crown. This may not be attractive
to those who framed the Belfast Agreement, but is in the constitutional
reality.
No democracy anywhere in the world can be expected to accept
policing from a separate and foreign state and Northern Ireland,
as part of the United Kingdom, cannot be expected to accept
any different treatment.
When a listener in a recent BBC radio programme made this
point, the programme interviewer asked him if he would really
care where police came from if his house had been burgled.
That was a glib and nonsensical answer. The person whose
house was burgled would naturally want police to be on the
scene quickly, but would expect that the officers responding
to the call would be members of the Police Service of Northern
Ireland.
Let’s remove fanciful and unrealistic proposals on policing
from the equation and just get down to the business of having
enough Northern Ireland police officers or those from other
parts of the United Kingdom to police this Province.
It would be a much more realistic and positive step if the
axing of experienced R.U.C. officers, and Reservists was to
be halted, and recruits from the Police Service of Northern
Ireland encouraged from the Protestant as well as Roman Catholic
section of the community.
The unfair and discriminatory policy of insisting on 50 per
cent recruits being from the Roman Catholic population, and
rejecting a number of Protestant applications in order to
achieve this, should be stopped.
Men and women should be recruited to the Northern Ireland
Police Service on merit alone, and they should be citizens
whose allegiance and loyalty is to the United Kingdom and
to the Crown – surely not too much to expect.
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