Sinn Féin Leas Uachtarán Michelle O’Neill told the PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne today she is very concerned the British government has not contacted stakeholders to outline how it will honour commitments to victims of the conflict. 

The Sinn Féin Vice President, the party’s policing spokesperson Gerry Kelly MLA and West Belfast MP Paul Maskey met the Chief Constable today on a wide range of issues. 

Following the meeting Michelle O’Neill said:

“Today we met the Chief Constable on a wide range of current policing and legacy issues.

“Nationalists, women, members of the LGBT community, new nationals and ethnic groups, remain under-represented in the PSNI.

“The policing service clearly needs to be more representative of the society it serves and we urged the Chief Constable to step up efforts to address this imbalance.

“We also discussed preparations for the marching season, bonfires and associated hate crime.

“Sinn Féin also called for more to be done to tackle criminality and in particular organised crime gangs involved in drug dealing, extortion, human trafficking and intimidation.

“Our delegation also raised a number of legacy issues with the Chief Constable.

“We told the Chief Constable  that Sinn Féin is alarmed the British government has not yet contacted relevant stakeholders to outline how it intends to honour its commitments in the ‘New Decade, New Approach’ document to publish and introduce legislation within 100 days.

“It’s unacceptable for the British government to let down victims of the conflict once again and they must not resile once again from commitments to implement the legacy mechanisms agreed at Stormont House, in a human rights compliant manner.”