Speeches by Robinson.

“Have you been engaging with Ministers or officials on this?”

“This is an important thread. One of the reasons for pushing back earlier is that it is important that we identify where the problems lie. My support for policing is almost unconscious. For people from my community, for Ulster Unionist people and Alliance too, it is unconscious. The SDLP, in many ways, has shown extraor…”

“The Secretary of State and the Labour Government promised the people of Northern Ireland that they would repeal and replace the legacy Act. They have not. They promised through this two-year extended parliamentary Session that they would deliver legislation that attained support across the community. They have not. The…”

“The person asking you questions is one.”

“How long were the answers?”

“That is the Policing Board’s review, but there has been silence.”

“Has every leader met you since you asked to see them at the start of the year?”

“So what is the problem?”

“Chair, you can follow up on this. It is appalling, when we hear continually about delays in implementation and so on, that the sponsoring Department, and the Department that has responsibility, has not even given a view, after 12 months, on the importance of policing in this review.”

“You have told me before when we met that there is a legacy liability. Before you get into staffing requirements, there are legacy liability costs sitting there of circa £200 million. At that time, you were saying that there were eight inquests and about 150 to 160 legacy cases. If the legacy commission gets going, ther…”

“Sinead, with the greatest respect to you—and you are being diplomatic about this—the Department of Justice breathes down your neck all the time. You are the fall guy for the McCloud judgment. You are the fall guy for injury on duty awards. You are the fall guy for doing all the pension stuff, even though you are not re…”

“The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee has just heard from the chief constable of the PSNI, Jon Boutcher, who indicated that the Secretary of State has put in a claim to the Treasury for additional hundreds of millions of pounds to fund the legacy commission, yet the PSNI has nothing. It has £200 million of civil liabi…”

“Good morning to you both, gentlemen. Chief Constable, you have had success in this Committee in building support around some of the financial constraints that you face. You have had some success recently, but I would say that it is piecemeal and does not give you long-term sustainability. You had an uplift two years ag…”

“I can understand why you do not want to get dragged into a scrap. If I heard my Minister on the radio saying that they would pursue a business case and find the resources if the evidence was there—do you think there has been a challenge in providing the evidence for policing?”

“You have given courtesy to the Department of Justice, which is seemingly showing no interest whatsoever. Have you spoken to the Justice Minister about this? What has Naomi Long said?”

“It was in Short Strand. I was there.”

“I was in one of them.”

“Yes, but it is not a case of “found wanting”. Finally from me, do you have a sense of comparative figures for England and Wales? Do you know that the Treasury is likely to indicate that, while Northern Ireland is funded at £1.24 for every £1 per head spent in England, for policing in Northern Ireland it is £1.60 or 60%…”

“I get the point you are making, and I understand the complexity. I can be political about what I say, and you will not. I get all of that, but all it took was for a member of your Policing Board to condemn a bomb scare and to condemn dissident republicans who are trying to create the atmosphere that precludes young mem…”

“The Department of Justice knows the importance of policing, community involvement in policing, and community support for and trust in policing. It knows that the review was commissioned. It even published the outcome of the review, but it has not given a view in 12 months.”