Published Tuesday, 13 September 2011
Some of those ex-members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary's Part-Time Reserve may be considered for a relocation scheme if police substantiate that their safety is at risk, Justice Minister David Ford said.
A telephone line and email facility were put in place after 6,000 former reservists had their past service potentially exposed when they were sent a gratuity payment in envelopes with a clear window.
The documentation visible through the envelopes in some instances outlined the individuals' past membership of the security forces.
Mr Ford revealed the number of officers who had come forward as he responded to an emergency Assembly debate on the foul up.
"In terms of those who have raised concerns to date, 156 people have called the telephone helpline, nine people have emailed and nine people have written to the department (of Justice)," he said.
The £20m gratuity fund was made available by the Treasury to make the one-off payment to officers in the now-defunct reserve in recognition of their service during the Troubles.
Mr Ford said police would conduct individual assessments of the security risk posed as a result of the breach.
But he stressed that the majority of people who contacted the help service had concerns about their security in the past, with only a small minority raising fears about their current situation.
He said the SPED (Scheme for the Purchase of Evacuated Dwellings) relocation programme would be open to anyone who had security concerns that were substantiated by the police.
"I must say that the vast majority of those 160 or so have raised concerns relating to issues in the past and relatively few have raised any concerns relating to issues of today and I fully appreciate that does not lessen the anxiety that many (Assembly) members have expressed today as felt by some of those reservists," said Mr Ford.
"So there clearly is an issue of anxiety which needs to be taken account of and we need to do what we can to reassure those because however small that proportion is, it is clearly something which is creating difficulty for them.
"And certainly what we will seek to do is continue in that work to support those who feel particular difficulties to ensure that the proper individual assessment is carried out by the police service and if measures like SPED are appropriate then measures like SPED will be taken."
The debate was tabled by Ulster Unionist MLA and former reserve officer Ross Hussey.
"Many who were prepared to risk their lives for the security of this province have now had their personal security threatened by gross incompetence," he said.
"They feel they have been treated with contempt by the Department of Justice and by Her Majesty's Government and a grovelling apology to this house will not be sufficient to satisfy the upset this farcical set of circumstances has created."
Mr Ford made clear that his departmental officials were not directly involved in sending out the envelopes, noting that the arms-length government body the Northern Ireland Police Fund administered the dispatch.
A number of additional criticisms of the gratuity scheme were also aired during the debate, including the Treasury's decision to tax the payment and the fact that a number of eligible former officers missed out because they were unaware of it and the application deadline.
An Assembly motion calling for the minister to take action on the tax issue and security breach was passed despite the opposition of Sinn Fein, which made clear it had always opposed the gratuity scheme.