Speeches by Hanna.

“I appreciate that this is not entirely a policing problem. Right down to paramilitary emblems flying from lampposts all over my constituency and others, there is a tolerance of a level of paramilitary involvement in Northern Ireland that is not, one way or the other, being properly addressed and eradicated.”

“Of course, and we have spent the afternoon properly. As I say, nobody is negating people's genuine anxiety over, for example, the crime that was the trigger point, as somebody said, for some of the disorder last week. Clearly, there is co-operation, data sharing and extensive checks, but it is unclear if the Government…”

“Thank you very much, Davy. We have heard that racially motivated crimes are at the highest level since records began. You rightly raised the response from the voluntary sector; groups like Anaka did much of the heavy lifting on supporting and housing some of the many, many people who were put out of their houses. Do yo…”

“You are correct about the frustration, and I acknowledge that on many other issues you are policing political failures, one of which has been the failure to update race hate legislation for over two decades. As you know, many of those representing minority ethnic communities are raising that. Does the absence of update…”

“We do not have time to get into this at length, but you have raised the Chief Constable’s confirmation that paramilitary actors were involved in the disorder. You have also raised the reports of checkpoints and healthcare workers being asked for ID from masked men, who we presume were organised. Do you think that there…”

“Is there an adequate response in terms of a cohesion strategy from the Executive?”

“I will finish on this. You have said, “Of course there are great ideas and great action,” but that is reactive. There is no proactive strategy to address and prevent those issues, despite the fact that we have had three years of deliberate waves of racist violence. I will leave you with one point that you must see in a…”

“Minister Patrick, in 2020, The Detail, an investigative journalism outlet, reported that there were more immigration checks in Northern Ireland than in London. Anecdotally, we hear those checks have only increased. In fact, we hear from some that Northern Ireland is effectively one big border for a lot of people in ter…”

“Sir Declan, are you the person to take forward the recommendations in the Peter May report, given that you were in the leadership role during the period examined?”

“Josephine?”

“Perhaps my question was too broad; we are aware of some of the deficits in the legislation, but I want to focus on your understanding of which of the issues are a result of leadership and management.”

“I think you are characterising them as teething issues in terms of growth. I think we are all sympathetic to the deficits in the legislation, but we just want to get an analysis from each of you. Holly, would you mind answering the same question and talking about the issues related to leadership and management, rather …”

“Last but not least, Sir Declan, what is your analysis on the same question?”

“Thank you very much for your report and for coming before us today. Did the scope and objectives of the review enable you to go far enough in uncovering the challenges at ICRIR and therefore bring about the change needed to address them?”

“Was the timescale appropriate? Did you have enough time to get into the issues? You said that your recommendations have been deliberately kept to a minimum; is that just in terms of prioritisation?”

“Last but not least, Sir Declan, what is your analysis on the same question?”

“Josephine?”

“Did you have access to everybody that you needed to and to all the information you required? Are you satisfied with that?”

“Sir Declan, are you the person to take forward the recommendations in the Peter May report, given that you were in the leadership role during the period examined?”

“Thank you.”