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11/02/2003
NIO security breach will cost £100m claims UUP
Senior Ulster Unionist Michael McGimpsey has accused the NIO of "incompetence" over its security procedures at Stormont, claiming that the suspension of the assembly will cost the taxpayer around £100 million.
The South Belfast MLA said that "heads must roll" following allegations that NIO employees were involved in a republican spy-ring at Stormont.
“The sheer inefficiency of those in charge of security at Stormont is costing millions of pounds because they breached their own rules," Mr McGimpsey said.
The former Assembly Minister claimed that the bill for putting new procedures in place and relocating prison officers and other potentially at-risk personnel is around £25 million and "rising with estimates now coming in at a total of £100 million".
“It is disgraceful that the NIO did not have adequate protective procedures in place at the very heart of the government’s administration in Northern Ireland. Republican behaviour and misdemeanours are absolutely disgraceful but so too has been the incompetence of NIO mandarins," he said.
“The fact that the NIO has now seen fit to introduce new measures to protect national security is a damning indictment of its previous failures in this most sensitive area.
“This appalling lapse must not go unpunished. Those responsible for overseeing security levels must be held to account.”
The Stormont assembly was suspended on October 14 last year after an alleged republican spy-ring was uncovered in the NIO.
Sinn Fein's head of administration at Stormont, Denis Donaldson, was among those arrested as part of the police investigations.
(GMcG)
The South Belfast MLA said that "heads must roll" following allegations that NIO employees were involved in a republican spy-ring at Stormont.
“The sheer inefficiency of those in charge of security at Stormont is costing millions of pounds because they breached their own rules," Mr McGimpsey said.
The former Assembly Minister claimed that the bill for putting new procedures in place and relocating prison officers and other potentially at-risk personnel is around £25 million and "rising with estimates now coming in at a total of £100 million".
“It is disgraceful that the NIO did not have adequate protective procedures in place at the very heart of the government’s administration in Northern Ireland. Republican behaviour and misdemeanours are absolutely disgraceful but so too has been the incompetence of NIO mandarins," he said.
“The fact that the NIO has now seen fit to introduce new measures to protect national security is a damning indictment of its previous failures in this most sensitive area.
“This appalling lapse must not go unpunished. Those responsible for overseeing security levels must be held to account.”
The Stormont assembly was suspended on October 14 last year after an alleged republican spy-ring was uncovered in the NIO.
Sinn Fein's head of administration at Stormont, Denis Donaldson, was among those arrested as part of the police investigations.
(GMcG)
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