Northern Ireland’s Justice Minister is facing calls to apologise to police officers following a “monumental gaffe” over remarks around compensation for a major Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) data breach.
Naomi Long said on Thursday she had “misspoken” when she claimed the previous day that £119 million (€135.7 million) to deal with compensation claims had been agreed by the Stormont Executive.
Liam Kelly, the chairman of the Police Federation for Northern Ireland, said rank-and-file officers were “left speechless and massively disappointed” by her remarks.
Chief Constable Jon Boutcher told the Policing Board he hoped the “mistake” would become a “premonition”.
The PSNI breach occurred in August, 2023, when a spreadsheet released as part of a freedom of information request held hidden data with the initials, surname, rank and role of all PSNI officers and staff.
The information later got into the hands of dissident republicans.
The PSNI accepted liability for the data breach and a test case over potential compensation has begun in the courts.
The Stormont Executive had made a reserve claim to the Treasury to cover an expected £120 million compensation bill, but this was rejected.
On Wednesday, Ms Long told The Nolan Show on BBC that the Executive had agreed to set aside “around £119 million” to compensate officers.
However, she appeared on the show again on Thursday to say she had “misspoken”.
She said: “That was my error in saying the money was agreed by the Executive, rather than agreed by the Department of Finance.”
Mr Kelly said Ms Long now “needs to make a clear apology to officers over the monumental gaffe”.
“In her latest radio interview, she acknowledged her mistake and admitted that the £119 million she said had been ‘ringfenced’ for data-breach compensation was money that was not ‘done and dusted’,“ he said.
The mistake has “angered officers”, he said, adding that she built them up to expect compensation awards from April but it quickly transpired she had “overstepped the mark” and that the money had not been signed off by the Executive.
The issue was raised at the monthly public meeting of the Policing Board, where Ulster Unionist Alan Chambers asked Mr Boutcher when he became aware that the Justice Minister’s original remarks were “inaccurate”.
The chief constable said: “I was told yesterday that this information had been made public. We all make mistakes.”
He added: “I am hoping it is a premonition. I am hoping that next week or before Christmas we can play the same footage perhaps. This is such an important issue around the data breach for the officers and staff of the organisation."
Mr Boutcher said he does not think there should be too much focus on someone who has made a “genuine mistake”.
“What I am pleased about is that I get a sense that the Executive, the Finance Minister, the Justice Minister, certainly this board, are all in support of getting the data-breach funding and the resolution we are seeking provided for.
“I am delighted there is a sense of real optimism that we are coming to a good outcome.”
Stormont’s Finance Minister John O’Dowd said on Wednesday the costs of the data-breach compensation was something the Executive would “have to deal with”.
