Security Vetting in Northern Ireland: Loyalty, Redress and Citizenship
| Author | Kieran, Ciaran McEvoy White |
| Date | 01 May 1998 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.00147 |
| Published date | 01 May 1998 |
Security Vetting in Northern Ireland: Loyalty, Redress
and Citizenship
Kieran McEvoy* and Ciaran White**
The Purpose of vetting is to attempt to exclude the disloyal or those considered prone for
various reasons to disloyalty . . .
1
The notion of ‘loyalty’ is one that inevitably infuses any system of security vetting
set up to establish mechanisms to prevent the disclosure of information which
could be considered a threat to the security of the state or its citizens. Loyalty,
however, is a problematic concept even in jurisdictions with an arguably more
homogenous body politic than Northern Ireland.
2
As we shall seek to demonstrate
in this article, those difficulties are considerably exacerbated in a region where a
significant minority explicitly offer their political allegiance to a different
jurisdiction and where there have been persistent periods of political violence
associated with that conflict of identity and allegiance.
3
The practical significance of security vetting as a bar to employment in the public
sector in Northern Ireland should not be underestimated. The Northern Ireland
economy has, since the Wilson/Callaghan administration, seen comparatively high
levels of public spending, and a great deal of growth in the public sector. Northern
Ireland by and large escaped the widespread cuts in public spending associated with
the Thatcher era.
4
By the mid 1990s the proportion of the work force directly
employed in the public sector has risen to over 39 per cent from a figure of 23 per
cent in 1971.
5
However, as the agricultural and construction sectors of the economy
The Modern Law Review Limited 1998 (MLR 61:3, May). Published by Blackwell Publishers,
108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA. 341
* Institute of Criminology, Queen’s University, Belfast.
** School of Public Policy, Economics and Law, University of Ulster.
The authors would like to acknowledge all those who provided information, insight and/or helpful criticism
during the lengthy process in the preparation of this article. In particular, the current and former Director of
the Department of Finance & Personnel (both of whom have been professional, courteous and helpful
despite their reservations with our conclusions), the current Head of the Security Branch, Dr Maurice
Hayes, Maureen Maguire, Druscilla Hawthorne, various former Communist activists, the staff of the Linen
Hall Library and Public Records Office all provided invaluable assistance. In addition Professors Laurence
Lustgarten, John Morison, Brice Dickson and Dr Keith Bryett provided encouraging and insightful
comments on the early drafts and others who gave us their time and encouragement at various stages. There
are others who, because of the subject matter of this article and because of the positions they hold, cannot
be publicly thanked, but who know who they are. Any errors or inaccuracies in this text remain our
responsibility.
1 I. Leigh and L. Lustgarten, In From the Cold: National Security and Parliamentary Democracy
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994) 128.
2 See for example M. Nussbaum and J. Cohen (eds), Debating the Limits of Patriotism (Boston:
Beacon Press, 1996).
3 For a useful overview see J. Whyte, Interpreting Northern Ireland (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990);
J. McGarry and B. O’Leary, Explaining Northern Ireland: Broken Images (Oxford: Basil Blackwell,
1995); J. Ruane and J. Todd, The Dynamics of Conflict in Northern Ireland: Power, Conflict &
Emancipation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996).
4 See F. Gaffiken and M. Morrissey, Northern Ireland: The Thatcher Years (London: Red Books,
1990).
5 See Northern Ireland Economic Council, The Economic Implications for Peace and Political
Stability for Northern Ireland, Occasional Paper No 4 (Belfast: NIEC 1995) 4–5. M. Smyth ‘The
Public Sector and the Economy’ in P. Teague (ed), The Economy of Northern Ireland: Perspectives
for Structural Change (London: Lawrence & Wisehart, 1993) 125.
depend heavily upon public expenditure it is likely that well over half of
employment in the region is funded directly or indirectly by the state.
6
While there
has been, until recently, a massive build up in the police and prison service
(averaging 4.5 per cent growth per annum) there has also been substantial growth
in both health and employment. For example the numbers of employees in the
health service increased by 43 per cent between 1974 and the late 1980s.
7
At 1 January 1993, almost 30,000 staff were directly employed by the Northern
Ireland Civil Service, which represents an increase of 3.1 per cent in the total
number of employees since 1987.
8
Employees of the Northern Ireland Civil
Service, the RUC and Police Authority for Northern Ireland, the Prison Service,
and people who are engaged in construction work which is adjudged to be of a
security sensitive nature are all security vetted before recruitment. In addition,
separate vetting procedures also exist for employees of British Telecom, the
Northern Ireland Electricity Service, and some posts in the BBC. There are also
more in-depth checks carried out upon those who are seeking promotion to certain
positions within each of these organisations.
The consequences of failing a security check can be severe, resulting in a
person’s being refused employment, being dismissed, or at best, being redeployed
in a less security sensitive area. In these situations subjects often have little, if any,
knowledge of the information which is held against them.
Our analysis of the system of security vetting begins not with the most recent
quarter of century of political violence but rather with the political, ideological and
practical characteristics of the early Northern Ireland state. It is our view that the
notion of loyalty which emerged from that period has continued to cast a shadow
over the modern system despite the substantial improvements in the legal
framework within which the system operates.
9
This article is divided into three
distinct phases. It is important to stress, however, that in dividing up our analysis
thus we are not suggesting that these phases are mutually exclusive and distinct
epochs, representing clear departures from previous ideology, policy and practice.
While we highlight the principle features which distinguish them, there are
common elements and dynamics which are relevant to all three phases.
Nonetheless by dividing our analysis into these distinct phases, we hope to
provide the heuristic tools to examine more closely the constituent parts which
characterise the current system of security vetting.
The first phase of our analysis is characterised by the construction of an
exclusionary notion of loyalty where no formal system of vetting existed. We will
argue that such a system operated in Northern Ireland between 1921–1978.
Essentially this system is based upon the premise that the loyalty of the minority
community is by definition questionable. It is distinguished by discriminatory
6 Coopers & Lybrand, Northern Ireland Economic Review and Prospects (Belfast: Coopers &
Lybrand, 1996).
7 V. Hewitt, ‘The Public Sector’ in R. Harris, C. Jefferson and J. Spencer, The Northern Ireland
Economy: A Comparative Study of the Economic Development of a Peripheral Region (London:
Longman, 1991).
8 NICS, Fifth Report of the Equal Opportunities Unit: Equal Opportunities in the Northern Ireland
Civil Service (Belfast: Department of Finance and Personnel, 1994).
9 In comments on the penultimate draft of this article, the current head of the Department of Personnel
challenges this assertion. He argues that loyalty ‘. .. is not a word in common parlance nor a working
concept in security vetting in the modern Northern Ireland Civil Service. We do not judge
individuals on whether they have any political loyalties or aspirations nor on perceived
manifestations of these . .. Rather, judgements are made on whether they are trustworthy and can
be relied upon to carry out their duties without any risk to good government in Northern Ireland’.
(Letter to the authors from Director of Personnel, NICS Central Personnel Group, 16 January 1998).
The Modern Law Review [Vol. 61
342 The Modern Law Review Limited 1998
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