The appointment of an “interlocutor” to explore the potential for formal engagement with paramilitaries to help them disband “risks undermining the good work which is already being done to end paramilitarism and organised crime”, the North’s Minister of Justice has said.
In a statement issued in her capacity as leader of the Alliance Party, Naomi Long said government engagement with illegal organisations “risks providing a veneer of legitimacy to paramilitary groups and criminal gangs” and “could give these groups a credibility which they don’t deserve”.
“The route to ending paramilitarism has to be through more robust law enforcement, coupled with more targeted community relations work to tackle vulnerability and the harms they cause,” the Minister said.
On Tuesday the British and Irish governments announced the conflict resolution and negotiation expert Fleur Ravensbergen had been appointed to the position of independent expert on paramilitary group transition to disbandment.
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The Northern Secretary, Hilary Benn, said there was “no justification for paramilitary groups and they should have left the stage long ago, but they haven’t.
“It’s therefore right that we test whether there is more that can be done to end paramilitarism.”
Ms Ravensbergen is a lecturer in conflict resolution and governance at the University of Amsterdam, and has experience in conflict zones around the world, including around decommissioning in Northern Ireland.
She will conduct a “scoping and engagement exercise” to examine where there is merit in a formal process of engagement with paramilitary groups to work towards their disbandment.
This will involve engagement with, among others, representatives of communities affected by paramilitarism – including victims of paramilitary activity – and representatives from paramilitary groups.
[ A calculated game: the latest attempt to persuade NI paramilitaries to disbandOpens in new window ]
She will consider issues including the advantages and disadvantages of a formal process with paramilitary groups aimed at facilitating their transition to disbandment, as well as the feasibility and advisability of such a process, levels of willingness to engage in it, and expectations of what could be achieved through participation.
Work is expected to begin shortly, and is due to be completed – and a report submitted – by mid-August 2026.
The report should set out what could be in the scope of such a process, as well as the levels of public support for such a move.
Sinn Féin Assembly member Gerry Kelly said “any process must not prolong the existence of these unwanted paramilitaries” and they “should disband immediately”.
The SDLP leader Claire Hanna said any engagement with paramilitaries “must be entirely based on disarmament, an end to recruitment, and the complete abandonment of criminal activity” and her party would engage with the independent expert “to help shape this process in a way that protects the rule of law and the public”.
