Debate contribution: Justice Bill: Consideration Stage
Debate contribution by Mrs Linda Dillon on .
- MLA
- Mrs Linda Dillon
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 9 June 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Executive Committee Business
- Heading
- Justice Bill: Consideration Stage
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5601630
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I appreciate the time that the Member has given to interventions on the matter, but it is important, particularly given that Nuala and I are on the Policing Board and we deal with it daily. Cheryl and Keith are in the same position. It is important to understand that the PSNI wants it. In fairness to the Chief Constable, he has used the special case review much more than it was used previously, and it is to his credit that he has done that. It is important because there are two issues in it. You either have officers who have been sitting at home for many years on full pay, doing no job, or you have officers with really serious allegations against them who are moved into other positions of power in the PSNI. That is a problem. It is really difficult to say which of those is the good option. Neither is a good option. The only good option is to get it dealt with, for the officers' sake as well, because, at the end of the day, if there are officers sitting and waiting for an outcome, they need it too. They need to be able to move on. Their families need to be able to move on. They need to know what the rest of their life looks like. That is important. It is important to PSNI as well, and it is important to all. Mr Martin mentioned the things that officers have to face and deal with. We know better than anybody else. We sit on the Policing Board. We hear it. We work with police in our communities. We understand better than anybody else what police have to face daily. I do not remove anything from that.
For all those good officers, however, who do really good work every day on the things that they have to face, the officers who are not doing the right thing need to be dealt with quickly and removed, because they remove confidence from the police and the ability of good police officers to do their job effectively. They waste money and resources every day.
356 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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