The British government bowed under pressure from paramilitaries by sanctioning a scheme of separating loyalist and republican prisoners at a Co Antrim jail, a new report claimed today.
Fears of hunger strikers putting even greater strain on the peace process led the authorities to go against security assessments of the situation inside Maghaberry Prison, a group of British MPs found.
The scathing Northern Ireland Affairs Committee report also attacked blocks on attempts to question top Downing Street officials on their role in the decision.
Members have now demanded no further concessions amid concerns that the parts of the high security jail, near Lisburn will come under the control of paramilitaries.
The £14 million transformation of the prison was agreed to last September after protests by prisoners claiming the regime was unsafe.
Dissident republicans smeared excrement on their cell walls while loyalist bombers on the outside also attacked warders' homes during the stand off.
The crisis inside the prison came as the political process in Belfast was plunged into political turmoil in Belfast following the collapse of the Stormont power-sharing Executive.
With the paramilitary groups threatening mayhem, the committee accepted the possibility of making concessions at the time was understandable.
But it described the decision as "profoundly depressing".
The all-party report said: "We believe that the separation of paramilitary prisoners at HMP Maghaberry was demanded by dissidents for political reasons and acceded to by the government for (other) political reasons.
"We accept that the prevailing political conditions in Northern Ireland in the summer of 2003 placed the government in an extremely difficult position.
"Nonetheless we have to record our belief that the decision taken, as we see it, contrary to the balance of the facts and arguments presented to us, was a dangerous one, most especially for the public servants who will have to implement it and live with its consequences."
PA