N Ireland's 'alternative police forces'

Restorative justice schemes are flourishing in Northern Ireland. But as Liz MacKean has found, there are deep misgivings about what are being seen as alternative police forces, and the involvement in them of ex-paramilitary prisoners.

By Liz MacKean BBC Newsnight

Watch the report

On any Friday or Saturday night in working class Belfast, teams of volunteers take to the streets. Some of them are in cars, the rest have mobiles and walky-talky radios.

Their aim is to confront the trouble-makers whose drinking and vandalism make the lives of locals a misery.

"The general problem is on-street drinking, with 30 or 40 gathering," says Eammon Cunningham, by day an aerial fitter, but by night one of the organisers of the Safer Neighbourhood Project.

"We have a list of rules," he says, insisting they are not vigilantes. "First and foremost we are non-violent."

Derry - a no-go area for police?

Such patrols are an increasingly common feature in many nationalist housing estates where the Troubles have left a legacy of intense distrust of the police.

Residents complain there is a policing vacuum and they turn to the patrols for help.

The police are actively recruiting from Catholic communities but the reality is that in many working class areas they are simply not welcome.

One woman who lives on a small nationalist estate in Derry said there would be no point in ringing the police because their cars would be stoned by local youths.

But while many accept the patrols, there are misgivings about restorative justice schemes that are spreading across Northern Ireland.

Settling disputes

Restorative justice is actively promoted by police and the judiciary in the UK. It's seen as a way to bring victim and offender together to settle minor disputes.

We know of one case where the victim and alleged rapist were brought in together in the same room Eileen Calder Belfast's Rape Crisis Centre

But some of the "clients" of these schemes claim they are involving themselves in areas where they are not wanted.

"We know of one case where the victim and alleged rapist were brought in together in the same room," says Eileen Calder from Belfast's Rape Crisis Centre.

She believes restorative justice groups are not qualified to intervene in such cases. She is also unhappy that some of the volunteers are convicted terrorists.

"A lot of women, even those who've gone to the republican movement for help, don't make distinctions between Community Restorative Justice and IRA. You have dual membership. They're referred to by both supporters and detractors as "Provies".

'Useful role'

The Republican schemes are run by Community Restorative Justice.

It would not work to exclude ex-prisoners from any organisation - it is to suggest that ex-prisoners are criminal and this community does not accept that Jim Auld, Director CRJ

Jim Auld, its director, rejects any suggestion that his volunteers are active IRA members. Some have been in the past, but he insists former paramilitary prisoners have a useful role to play:

"It would not work to exclude ex-prisoners from any organisation. It is to suggest that ex-prisoners are criminal and this community does not accept that."

He also flatly denied that his schemes deal with sexual offences. But Newsnight has interviewed one mother from Derry who said her family was left reeling by allegations of sexual abuse against her teenage son.

She claims the local restorative justice group told the alleged victim's mother who confronted her.

Speaking on condition of anonymity she told us: "I was hysterical. I couldn't believe anyone could say something like this. I want to know who made this accusation and what gave them the right to do this, to go and upset two families."

The incident was only sorted out after another witness came forward to deny any abuse had taken place.

Costs and guidelines

Restorative justice schemes are flourishing in Loyalist areas as well.

Restorative justice schemes are the closest many people may get to the rule of law

They claim they offer troublesome youngsters with an alternative to the traditional beatings and attacks meted out by paramilitary gangs.

The schemes are all funded by the American philanthropist Chuck Feeney, but the money runs out this year and speculation has raged that the government is preparing to step in and meet the cost.

It has produced draft guidelines for the schemes that demand a central role for the police. They also expect them to handle "low-level offences and offenders... not more serious offences like sexual offences or domestic violence."

Northern Ireland's Justice Minister David Hanson told Newsnight there was no question of even considering paying for the schemes until they signed up to the guidelines.

The biggest sticking point, on the Republican side, is bound to be the requirement that the police are centrally involved.

Sinn Fein still refuses to endorse the police service. Until they do, Restorative Justice Schemes are the closest many people will get to the rule of law.

Liz MacKean's report was shown on Newsnight on 1 February, 2006.