Speeches by Hanna.

“And grey hair is involved.”

“I share your scepticism about the group transition idea while trying to be constructive about the process, and also your frustration that the police do often police the political failures and the inability to deal with issues. There is a sense of, “Oh my goodness—nothing is working and we cannot get rid of these groups…”

“Sir Hugh, is Patten at 25 an appropriate time for a review?”

“With a view to trying to get things back on track, my party has called for a rule of law review and audit, not just of policing but of systemic issues such as the PPS and prosecution decisions of the police ombudsman. It is a fact that, 17 years after the devolution of policing, the political system has not seen fit to…”

“And are you confident that those powers are always deployed appropriately?”

“I agree entirely. The underfunding and, therefore, the inability of the service to provide the neighbourhood policing that you envisaged and that you both tried to deliver are enormous contributors. People are not engaging with the police in the way that you, the officers, and we as elected representatives would wish. …”

“An independent report in August found that Catholics and people from a Catholic nationalist background are twice as likely to be stopped and searched. Obviously, it suits dissident republicans down to the ground for people to experience police in a militarised way or in a way that they can frame as oppressive. Do you t…”

“Same question to you, Sir Hugh: do you think it is a problem if the police service is not representative? Do you think it is acknowledged across the political spectrum that that is a problem?”

“David laid out the current figures, and I think women and ethnic minorities are under-represented as well. Do you see it as a problem that the Police Service of Northern Ireland is unrepresentative, and do you see it acknowledged in the political system that a police service that does not reflect the make-up of society…”

“I will frame it in a different way, Sir Hugh, to ask you the same question: do you think that a different approach to disclosure and transparency—whether systemic or in policy terms—could contribute to a better recruitment environment?”

“I have not made a specific reference. There are two or three cases that are being looked at.”

“I think that the current Chief Constable is in court fighting the principle: it is not always the technology that is contributing to the suppression. The current Chief Constable has indicated that there are times when he would wish to be more transparent in the publication of material. I do not think that we can say it…”

“You arrived at the point I was going to ask about. I think your successor, Jon Boutcher, was quite specific last week about the impact of legacy on recruitment, and especially about the reality or perception of information suppression—particularly how agents were handled. Yes, sometimes it delves into conspiracy, but t…”

“The interim report proposed reviewing the classification of previous reports. The PSNI have refused the release of the 1973 Morton report into special branch activity, and your final report indicates no progress on that. Would the release of that document, or even an indication of its principal findings, help us to bet…”

“Should we be considering that a troubles case and therefore allowing it to have any article 2 and article 3-compliant investigation from the new body?”

“On the relationship of informant stories, particularly related to the IRA, Kenova shows that Stakeknife was protected. He was sheltered in west Belfast and resettled with pretty lavish arrangements. There were football season tickets, wealth management, and even the lurid story of the proposed farewell dinner. During t…”

“Chief Constable, you referenced your new recruitment campaign that is launching today, and I want to acknowledge all you have done to achieve a properly resourced and representative PSNI. You laid out very clearly the link between resolving legacy and getting that confidence and buy-in from all communities. I always ta…”

“Chief Constable Boutcher, do you want to comment on any of the issues around PPS decisions or the treatment of agents related to the republican movement and the potential further investigation of those?”

“Do you think there should be an independent counsel review of that decision? Any review would be taken in-house, I suppose, by the same teams that made the initial decision.”

“Do you think there needs to be an investigation into the treatment of IRA assets and the moneys relating to those, and the extent to which political or security interests were taken into account in how they were handled?”