Devolved government in Northern Ireland has been labelled 'disastrous' by the head of the Police Federation for Northern Ireland, Liam Kelly. Speaking at the federation's annual conference in Belfast, he criticised Stormont ministers and the UK government for 'abandoning a solemn duty and responsibility' to protect the public.
Mr Kelly highlighted the PSNI's dire financial situation, with projected budget deficits of £65 million this year, rising to £96 million in 2027/28 and £106 million in 2028/29. He described these figures as 'frightening' and warned that the books 'simply cannot be balanced', pointing to an impending 'financial meltdown'. The political leaders, he claimed, 'must share most of the blame for this crisis'.
Officer Numbers at Historic Low
With the 25th anniversary of the PSNI's creation approaching in November, Mr Kelly noted that the outlook has 'never been as bleak or filled with as much foreboding'. In November 2001, there were around 7,500 full-time officers serving a population of 1.69 million. Today, there are just 6,315 officers for a population of 1.93 million, a figure he called 'disgraceful'. Removing student officers brings the total down to around 6,000.
He accused politicians of turning a blind eye to falling police numbers and referenced the repeated collapses of the Stormont Assembly over the past 25 years. The PSNI, he said, 'disgustingly remains languishing at the back of the queue when it comes to funding and having effective resources'.
Blame Game Between London and Belfast
'Devolution was meant to be a boost, a better way of delivering accountable government,' Mr Kelly said. 'In our experience, instead of being a positive step, it has been disastrous. We have London and Belfast passing the parcel of blame in a game of unedifying brinkmanship.' He criticised the failure to agree a three-year budget and the reliance on constrained one-year financial settlements, which hamper forward planning.
The PSNI Recovery Plan, intended to increase officer numbers to 7,000 by April 2028, is now in 'grave doubt'. By April 2026, the end of year one, the force was supposed to have grown by 150 officers to 6,500. Instead, numbers stand at 6,315, 35 fewer than the 2025 baseline. To reach the next target of 6,750 by April 2027, the PSNI would need to recruit around 800 officers to offset annual losses of approximately 350. 'Let's be honest – that is now simply not going to happen,' Mr Kelly stated. 'Even with the best will in the world, the knock-on effect to get to 7,000 officers by April 2028 has effectively evaporated.'
Call for Political Support
Mr Kelly backed Chief Constable Jon Boutcher's challenge to politicians to show their support for the police. He acknowledged that more could be done to recruit officers from a Catholic background but warned that reintroducing 50-50 recruitment would be a 'backward step' and lead to 'understandable resentment'. 'Engineering the figures would be a lazy way of trying to fix a societal problem,' he said.
He urged nationalist politicians and church leaders to provide 'specific reassurance' to Catholic applicants that there is 'no impediment or threat' to them becoming police officers. 'Too often, there's a rush to criticise, but when it comes to giving wholehearted encouragement and unequivocal endorsement of a career in policing, quite a few usually vocal spokespeople develop a case of laryngitis. Their silence is deafening.'
Concluding, Mr Kelly reiterated: 'This is a crisis. We're not crying wolf or scaremongering. The time for intervention is right now.'
