Controversial neighbourhood justice schemes in Northern Ireland should be vetted to prevent people with criminal or paramilitary links since 1998 working in them, a committee of Westminster MPs urged today.
The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee called for staff in the schemes operating in loyalist and republican areas to be screened by a panel and accredited under the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults (POCVA) framework.
It also backed the British government's stipulation that the groups must have a proper relationship with the PSNI if they are to receive state funding.
"Like the Chief Constable [Sir Hugh Orde], we recognise that there can be constructive opportunities within these schemes for individuals with previous criminal convictions to serve their communities but there has to be a sensitive mechanism to ensure that those who have repudiated their past have indeed done so," the Committee's report said.
"Ensuring that community restorative justice schemes are staffed by suitable individuals with no current paramilitary connections and/or involvement in paramilitary organisations is crucial to building confidence in the schemes and to removing suspicion that they are a front for paramilitary organisations," it continued.
Restorative justice schemes deal with low level crime, bringing the perpetrators face to face with their victims.
Supporters of the schemes argue they are a viable alternative to punishment attacks and bring substantial savings to the criminal justice system.
However there have been fears in Northern Ireland that in republican neighbourhoods critics of the PSNI view them as alternative police forces.
Two groups currently operate schemes. Community Restorative Justice Ireland run 15 schemes in nationalist areas while Northern Ireland Alternatives, which works with the police, operates four.
With Sinn Fein due to decide this Sunday if it should back the police, the all-party committee expressed concern that loyalist schemes which would sign up now were being starved of vital funds while republicans deliberated.
The committee, which received evidence from the two agencies Sir Hugh and former taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald, also backed an independent complaint system for people accessing the schemes but did not believe the Probation Board was the right organisation to administer it.
PA