Security review is lacking in substance, says SF

Sinn Fein has reacted scathingly to a new British government security strategy document which broadly outlines the way normal security and policing can be achieved in Northern Ireland.

The document, published yesterday by the Northern Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson, makes clear that a general scaling down of the British army presence in Northern Ireland is dependent on the level of paramilitary threat.

A British army spokesman emphasised that the strategy was predicated on the security situation permitting a reduction in troop levels and military installations. He said he did not expect any major moves on demilitarisation in the near future.

Sinn Fein MLA and former IRA prisoner, Mr Gerry Kelly, said the paper lacked detail and substance.

"It is a report produced by securocrats who are still fighting a war and who are clearly intent on protecting their jobs", he added.

"Nationalists and republicans are not interested in vague waffle or minimalist and ineffectual gestures.

"Bobby the dog could have produced a better report," said Mr Kelly, referring to Mr Mandelson's new pet dog.

Mr Mandelson's strategy document sets out a number of areas where demilitarisation might happen. But he stressed that this would occur only if the security situation allowed.

The strategy paper, Security - Return to Normality, sketches a plan for "normal security and policing" in Northern Ireland.

It says "the difficulty in predicting the activities of those groups who continue to use or threaten violence prevents us from establishing in advance a precise timetable or sequence of measures to achieve normalisation."

However, it anticipates progress in a number of areas, including troop reductions, dismantling of security installations and the removal of emergency powers. There is to be a review of the use of plastic baton rounds.

The police holding centres at Gough Barracks in Armagh and Strand Road in Derry are to be closed "as soon as practicable."

The paper says a security review is now under way, the first phase of which will be completed early next year, examining the potential for closing military installations such as the observation towers in south Armagh.

The document says troop levels in Northern Ireland currently stand at 15,000 and an initial step to reducing that figure could be the withdrawal of three emergency battalions which would bring the total down to about 13,000, including the 5,000 soldiers serving in the Royal Irish Regiment.

In addition, security barriers and gates in about 20 city and town centres will be left open and eventually removed, while public access to fortified police stations will be improved and protective fencing progressively removed.

The Northern Secretary further promised a decline in the use of counter-terrorist legislation, and an increase in the proportion of jury trials.

The strategy envisages an end to all British army operations in support of the police and confirms that the Maze prison is to close at the end of next year. Mr Mandelson also confirmed that he would "shortly" announce how, and to what extent, the Patten report on policing is to be implemented.

The Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, was as unenthusiastic about the report as his colleague Mr Kelly. He wanted to see immediate demilitarisation and was not interested "in papers or fine words", he told the BBC.

Mr Danny Kennedy, an Ulster Unionist Party MLA, urged Mr Mandelson to be cautious about any scaling down of the army presence.

"Many Border unionists would feel exposed if security installations such as watchtowers were dismantled," said Mr Kennedy, who questioned the wisdom of closing Gough Barracks in his Newry-Armagh constituency.