MI5 has taken charge of national security in Northern Ireland for the first time, it was revealed today. Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde handed over control to the British intelligence agency, which is opening a new £20 million office near Belfast.
The transfer of powers took place at midday on Wednesday, his office confirmed today. A spokesperson added: "All the necessary service level agreements are in place and this step brings the Police Service of Northern Ireland into line with the arrangements in all other UK police services."
The handover has been on the cards for some time as part of the new policing and security arrangements in Northern Ireland. But it means that for the first time in the history of the North, MI5 will have the lead role in national security intelligence gathering, which will range from international terrorism to the threat posed by dissident republicans opposed to the peace process.
The British government has already made it clear that the agency will not have any part in civic policing - a move aimed at reassuring Sinn Fein.
The PSNI and the agency will operate as distinct and entirely separate bodies. But many republicans and nationalists backing the Chief Constable and his policing service, retain lingering doubts about MI5's future role because of its controversial history in Northern Ireland.
A staff of at least 200 will work out of the new offices inside Palace Barracks, a military base at Holywood, Co Down, which are expected to be fully operational by the end of next month. The building will also serve as a back-up to MI5's London HQ, Thames House, in case it is ever attacked.
MI5 has operated in Northern Ireland for many years and the secret work of the organisation has been linked to several controversial murders - including the shooting in February 1989 of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane - through the use of loyalist paramilitary and republican informants.
SDLP leader Mark Durkan said MI5 will enjoy carte blanche over national intelligence without adhering to safeguards recommended in the 1999 Patten Report shake-up of Northern Ireland policing. He added that incoming police ombudsman Al Hutchinson would lose scrutiny powers.
"The original Patten Report was clear that the accountable police service should be in the lead on intelligence matters. Under these arrangements, that will not be the case," he said. "It is the unaccountable security services who will be in the lead on intelligence policing."