Calls for PSNI Chief Constable to resign following Bobby Storey funeral 

The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is calling on PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne to resign following Bobby Storey’s funeral last June. 

Leader of the party, Steve Aiken, said there has been a “definite failure” in policing at the most senior level and that Mr Byrne has lost trust from Northern Ireland unionists. 

The party has joined calls for his resignation after First Minister Arlene Foster demanded Mr Byrne step down.

The funeral of the former IRA leader was attended by around 2,000 people, which was in breach of public health guidelines on Covid-19. 

The PSNI has come under fire this week following a decision by the Public Prosecution Service not to pursue prosecutions against 24 Sinn Fein members who attended the funeral despite coronavirus restrictions against gatherings.

The PPS pointed to police engagement with the funeral planners as one reason why any prosecution would likely fail as well as the repeatedly changing and inconsistent nature of Stormont's coronavirus regulations.

Mr Storey’s funeral took place on June 30, 2020, and attendees included deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill and Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald. 

“The events that happened around Bobby Story’s funeral need to be laid in one area and one area in particular and that was the complete failure of Sinn Féin,” Mr Aiken said today on RTÉ Radio 1’s Morning Ireland. 

"The fact that Sinn Féin decided to go to this funeral and to help manage this funeral despite the very rules they were making the day before and decided to breach them. That's where the real anger is.

"But, there has been a very definite failure in policing and policing at the most senior level and unfortunately, that means that the chief constable has now lost the confidence of the unionist community and many others across Northern Ireland, and it is indeed time for him to go.”

The UUP leader said his party “resolutely” support the PSNI, but it no longer supports Mr Byrne as it cannot understand how this funeral was allowed. 

“How did the chief constable not see that a way which was against the rules and regulations of a funeral which was allowed, but for 30 people not 2000, a commemoration march, a cremation, how did he not see those breaches of health regulations that every other person in Northern Ireland saw and it's a singular failure in leadership,” Mr Aiken said. 

"Our support for the PSNI does not change, our concern has been on the senior leadership of the PSNI and in particular that role of the chief constable. He needs to reflect sadly on the fact that he’s lost the confidence of at least 50pc of the population of Northern Ireland if not more.

“The problem is at the top and we can’t wait any longer, the chief constable must consider his position."

The PSNI Chief Constable said he won’t resign but has apologised. 

On Thursday, Northern Ireland Policing Board chairman Doug Garrett said a request is to be made for Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary to look at the PSNI's role in the funeral.

He said members of the board agreed to request that Justice Minister Naomi Long commission a "bespoke thematic inspection into the PSNI's handling of the policing of the funeral, its operational decision making, application of the law in the context of the Covid-19 regulations, and review the PSNI policy and procedures around police engagement with organisers and consistency of approach given the findings of the Public Prosecution Service (PPS)."

Appearing remotely before a meeting of the board, Mr Byrne said he welcomed the prospect of a review by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, "as an independent body to come in and help us get an objective understanding of what went on".

Mr Byrne said police understood and sympathised with the hurt, concern and anger felt by many who complied with the Covid regulations over the last year.

"I recognise that the events surrounding the policing of this funeral have caused outrage and have damaged confidence in policing," he told the board.

"I'm listening. But I'm confident that my officers have acted with good intent and integrity managing what was always going to be a sensitive policing operation."

Mr Byrne said recent days have seen the "most extreme manifestation of the difficulties that policing has faced in trying to balance the dilemmas that fall out of the Covid regulations".

"It's a huge regret about the public reaction to the PPS decision, we were surprised," he said.

Asked about claims of Loyalist anger at police, Mr Byrne said they are determined to build trust and relationships.

"I can't pretend the impact that this decision has had on community relations, in the Loyalist community predominantly, and we need to take the time now to make sense of that, to allow HMIC to get to the heart of just what happened, that might help begin the process of building a bridge," he said.

Reiterating that he has no plans to resign, Northern Ireland's chief constable referred to the Patten Report 20 years ago seeking to separate politics from policing, adding it is a "shame we are now in a situation where politics and policing have collided".

"My job is to try and deliver the operational service to people right across Northern Ireland, and I am determined to keep doing that ... and to rebuild relationships because I am not a quitter," he added.

Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill has apologised to families bereaved in the pandemic for her actions in relation to her attendance at the large funeral.

As the Northern Ireland Assembly was recalled from Easter recess to debate a motion of censure against her, Michelle O'Neill told MLAs she was "truly sorry" for the hurt caused to those who had lost loved ones.

However, her critics have claimed those apologies have fallen short and have not included an admission that she was wrong to attend the west Belfast funeral when strict limitations on public gatherings were in place.

In her contribution during the opening stages of Thursday's debate, Ms O'Neill did not say her attendance was wrong.

The deputy First Minister told MLAs it had never been her intention to upset grieving families.

"I am truly sorry that my actions have contributed to the grief or the heartache that has been felt and experienced by many people who've lost a loved one during this pandemic," she said.

"That was never, ever, my intention and for that I offer my heartfelt and unreserved apology to those families that have lost a loved one."

With reporting from PA

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