Security vetting to be reviewed

Stormont devolution suspended amid spying allegations

Security vetting procedures in Northern Ireland are set to be reviewed, Security Minister Jane Kennedy has announced.

The move comes in the wake of alleged spying by the IRA at the Northern Ireland Office and the security breach at the Castlereagh police complex in Belfast last March.

The security services are expected to be involved in drawing up new guidelines to ensure security within the civil service is watertight.

The minister said recent events had given the issue of security vetting an added focus.

Jane Kennedy: National security issues

She said the review would need to take into account the results of current inquiries into the security breaches.

"Our aim is to ensure that appropriate arrangements are in place to protect national security.

"There are often difficult balances to be struck in this area which is why the government attaches particular importance to the review addressing all aspects of what is a complex and sensitive issue."

'Battered confidence'

Ulster Unionist peer Lord Rogan called on the government to make sure the review was "as thorough and transparent" as possible, insisting that the findings should be published.

"This would improve the understandably battered confidence of the people of Northern Ireland following the quite extraordinary events at Stormont," he said.

I imagine the poison is already in the system

Ian Paisley Junior

Brid Rodgers, the deputy leader of the SDLP, said nationalists would be angry about the move.

"The SDLP is very concerned the new vetting procedures may be unfair in practice, as those that operated throughout the Troubles were, and wrongly deny people careers in the civil service," she said.

"We will be raising our concerns with government and the Equality Commission."

The DUP's Ian Paisley Junior insisted a staff vetting review was long overdue.

"I imagine the poison is already in the system," he said.

Four people, including a messenger working at Stormont's Castle Buildings, have been charged in connection with the investigation into alleged IRA spying.

The incident was one of a number of factors that led to the suspension of the devolved institutions on 14 October.