We report this week on the fears and concerns of a number of republicans who have been warned by the PSNI that their details are in the hands of loyalists. To say that the men are less than impressed with how their cases have been dealt with would be an understatement – we're far from impressed as well.
What seems to link the various cases which have prompted the PSNI to visit the homes of republicans is the Castlereagh debacle. Claims by various British government agencies that republicans were behind the raid were taken by many with a pinch of salt – today you'd need a lorryload of the stuff. It was always likely that when the fall-out from the Castlereagh thefts began that it would be republicans who would get it in the neck, and so it has proven, although anyone who fears for their safety and wants to do something about it can avail of the £150 being given to at-risk republicans by the British government. That sum might only barely pay for lunch for Ian Paisley's phalanx of bodyguards, but in homes in Ballymurphy or Twinbrook it'll put a peephole in the front door and perhaps a snib or two upstairs.
It's clear that neither the PSNI nor the British government gives a fig about who knows what about republicans or what is likely to be done with the information. The cavalier way that the British and their agents have dealt with this issue has not changed from the dark days when the information was handed over in black binliners instead of staged break-ins. The bottom line is that if information that is compiled by various British government spooks ends up in the hands of loyalists then that is the fault of the British government: it is their information, expensively and painstakingly compiled, but guarded with rather less care. Having accepted that, it is incumbent upon the British to do something about it – enough money for effective security precautions would be a start, but we're not holding our breath.
The amount of money being spent on the protection of 'key persons' continues to be mammoth, while a pittance is offered to those who will certainly be in the firing line should still-active loyalist paramilitaries decide to start targeting nationalists and republicans again instead of welshing pushers and light-fingered mules.
We're told that it's time for republicans to sign up to the new policing arrangements and that a new day has dawned. But what kind of dawn is it when the PSNI reacts to threats against this community in such a slapdash manner, and what kind of day is it when restive loyalist paramilitaries are still groaning under the weight of British security information and nothing is done to protect those most at risk?
The answer is that it is not a new day dawning at all, but rather a rerun of the same old story. The British government has a duty of care towards those it claims to govern, even those who don't want to be governed by them. It is falling down on that duty of care. It has a responsibility to take all reasonable and practical steps to protect the personal safety of those it knows to be under threat – a cheque for £150 is hardly a reasonable and practical way to keep those being targeted by loyalists out of harm's way. And since much of this information was collected when loyalists were acting hand-in-glove with the British state, then how much more onerous is the burden on the British to act effectively and meaningfully on the matter? Perhaps if we heard more about innocent people who are on the run from loyalist killers, and less about republicans who are still on the run from history, a solution might be arrived at.
