POLICING BOARD members have urged the North's direct-rule security minister Paul Goggins to plug a multi-million-pound hole in the PSNI's budget.
The board is also about to put pressure on Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness to ensure that proper financing of the PSNI will be a key priority as they decide how and when policing and justice powers will be transferred to the Northern Executive.
Independent and political members of the board led by chairman Prof Sir Desmond Rea met Mr Goggins yesterday to outline how over the next three years the PSNI is facing a shortfall of £130 million (€154 million).
In this financial year the PSNI is short £24.5 million (€29 million) in its budget. This is chiefly as a result of deafness claims, extra pension demands and an equality pay claim for lower-paid civilian workers in the PSNI, according to the police and the board.
Deafness claims from thousands of serving and former police officers could cost £87 million in the coming years, Ulster Unionist board member Basil McCrea has warned.
Sir Desmond Rea and other board members have persistently argued that these are "legacy" issues that should be met by special British treasury funding, and that frontline policing must not be affected by cutbacks.
An additional financial pressure comes with providing sufficient police officers on the ground to deal with the growing threat from republican dissidents.
Mr Goggins offered some hope for board members that he would act to meet some of the financial concerns of the PSNI, in the short term at least. "Both the government and the board want the same thing - the best possible police service for the people of Northern Ireland," he said.
"Compared to other forces in the UK, the policing budget for Northern Ireland is both substantial and generous. However, it is accepted that the PSNI is facing significant pressures and the meeting focused on how to balance the budget for this year," he added.
The board is also to contact First Minister Mr Robinson and Deputy First Minister Mr McGuinness shortly, to urge them to make sure that, in their negotiations over policing and justice, the PSNI's funding will be high on their agenda.
The Assembly and Executive Review Committee, which is charged with working out how policing and justice powers should be devolved to the Northern Executive, met again yesterday a week after Sinn Féin and the DUP reached a compromise on how to deal with the policing issue.
There is no specific timeframe for when these powers will be transferred, although there is an expectation it could take up to a year before a minister for justice is appointed.
SDLP committee member Alex Attwood said after the meeting that there was no reason why these powers couldn't be transferred by May next year.
