The Five Demands

Office doubles staff on Troubles cases (UTV)
A funding boost of £10m will allow the Police Ombudsman’s Office to double the number of staff working on Troubles-related cases.
Justice Minister David Ford announced on Tuesday that the additional money will be made available over the next six years.
It means the Historical Directorate, which has had more than 100 cases referred to it, will now bring its total staff up to almost 40.
“This funding will ensure the Police Ombudsman’s Office is adequately resourced to complete its investigations into historic cases and represents a major increase over current funding levels,” Mr Ford said.
“The resourcing of historic investigations has been a major issue for the office, as highlighted in last year’s report by the Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland (CJINI).
“This funding over the next six years provides the Police Ombudsman with the resources to carry out effective investigations into this difficult area of work.”
The 100-plus cases under investigation comprise complaints from the public and referrals from the PSNI Chief Constable in relation to deaths and other serious matters believed to have involved members of the RUC between the period 1969 to 1998.
Welcoming the extra resources, Director of Historical Investigations, Paul Holmes, said they will allow the Office to complete its restructuring of the unit.
It will now comprise three units – one dealing with individual matters, one for complex cases and one for supporting people connected to the cases.
Mr Holmes said: “Up to this point funding allocated to the History Directorate had meant we could not do this work to the timescale we wanted and at a pace many families needed.
“We will soon be in a position to give families realistic time scales of when we can begin this work.”
“We will put in place measures which will provide more support for these people while at the same time helping to improve the investigative process.”
The boost brings the office’s total expenditure over the six year period to £13m.
It comes at a time when the body is preparing for the announcement of a new Police Ombudsman, after Al Hutchinson revealed his plans to step down in the wake of a heavily critical report from the Criminal Justice Inspectorate.