Security companies have nothing to fear and everything to gain from the forthcoming regulation of the industry in Northern Ireland. So says Government minister Paul Goggins in a SIA document about upcoming security sector badging to bring the region into the same regime as the rest of the UK.
You can view the eight-page document at the publications part of the SIA website.<br><br>One reason that Northern Ireland has been the last part of the UK to come under licensing – first came England and Wales, then Scotland – is its troubled recent history. More practically: if contract security guards and door supervisers were convicted of Troubles-related offences, should they get a badge? As the SIA document details, the SIA is at pains to do things legally according to how Northern Ireland has dealt with the issue, ever since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. <br><br>The document says: ‘The fact that an offence was conflict related and pre-dates the Good Friday Agreement will be taken into account when considering the whole of a person’s criminal record. We are working with interested parties to ensure that we can verify when an offence can be properly considered as conflict-related.’ <br><br>The SIA points to a judgement that if a person has been released under the Good Friday Agreement and has been determined as ‘no longer a danger to society’, those are relevant considerations as to whether or not someone can have a licence to work as a taxi driver.<br><br>Also quoted is NI government auvice to employers that a Troubles-related offence should not be taken into account ‘unless it is materially relevant to the employment being sought’. What makes SIA-badging of security people more complicated and controversial than former paramilitaries entering non-security employment is that – as in the Republic of Ireland – paramilitaries are suspected of making money from crime – smuggling and pub and club door rackets and demanding money from legitimate businesses. <br><br>As for the approved contractor scheme, companies that operate both sides of the border in Ireland may have already gone through Public Security Authority (PSA, www.psa.gov.ie) schemes in the Republic.
