Senior Government officials are to advise Bosnian security chiefs on police reforms adopted in Northern Ireland through the Patten Commission, it emerged today.
Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern, on a four-day visit to the Balkans, revealed his civil servants would advise on the modernisation of policing.
Following a meeting with Bosnian Foreign Minister Sven Alkalaj, Mr Ahern said lessons could be learned from the experience of Northern Ireland.
"I indicated that my department and officials from the Department of Justice were more than willing to give their view on police reform based on the work in the north," Mr Ahern said.
The officials are to use the experience of the north where former Hong Kong Governor Chris Patten recommended radical reforms in a bid to make the police force more acceptable.
The closer ties follow years of links between Bosnian police and gardai as EU forces encourage police reform.
Four Irish officers are currently seconded to police in the capital Sarajevo. Their roles include monitoring investigations and mentoring detectives, tackling organised crime and teaching modern investigative techniques.
Bosnia has 13 police forces controlling local areas and enforcing different aspects of the law. Meanwhile, Mr Ahern also attended a wreath laying ceremony at the memorial to thousands of innocent Muslims executed by Bosnian-Serb forces in July 1995 after the fall of Srebrenica.
At least 8,000 people were killed in a few days after troops led by wanted war criminal General Ratko Mladic overran the town.
It was the worst atrocity carried out on European soil since the Second World War.