Question marks over legality of Northern Ireland Policing Board members' appointment

Questions have been raised over the legality of the appointment of some independent members of the Northern Ireland Policing Board.

Last year the outgoing Justice Minister Naomi Long announced six new members to the board before she was forced to leave office due to the collapse of power sharing.

The law says the board must be made up of 10 members from the political parties and nine independent members appointed by the minister.

On 27 October 2022 Mrs Long’s penultimate day in office - she appointed six new board members.

Three of them Dr Kate Laverty, Les Allamby and Peter Osborne took up their roles on 1 December 2022.

The other three Frank McManus, Mukesh Sharma and Brendan Mullen are due in post from 1 April 2023.

The press release issued at the time said Minister Long wrote to the Executive Office, the Chief Executives of all the District Councils and the Chief Constable prior to making the appointments.

However, the Police (NI) Act 2000 states that before making any appointments, the Justice Minister "shall consult with the First and deputy First Ministers".

But at the time, there wasn’t a First or deputy First Minister due to the DUP’s boycott of the Northern Ireland Assembly in protest against the NI Protocol.

The Department of Justice told UTV that it acknowledged “there is a requirement to consult the First Minister and deputy First Minister”, but added that “at the time when the appointments process was taking place these roles were vacant.”

The statement continued by stating that the minister had “fulfilled her statutory duty to appoint the Policing Board and for that board to be representative, stood willing to undertake this consultation and did engage appropriately."

When asked about the appointments, the NI Policing Board told UTV that it was “a matter for the Justice Minister and the Department of Justice,” while the Alliance Party said it had nothing further to add to the Department of Justice statement.

The appointments face a legal challenge though from loyalist campaigner Jaime Bryson.

The DUP Leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said he would raise the issue in a meeting with Chief Constable Simon Byrne on Friday afternoon.

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