New Chief Constable of PSNI Hits Ground Running
 

JOHN REID, SECRETARY OF STATE, AND HUGH ORDE, CHIEF CONSTABLE - DOORSTEP, Sept. 2, 2002
 

SECRETARY OF STATE

Thank you very much for being here ladies and gentlemen. This is just to formally welcome our new Chief Constable of the Police Service Northern Ireland. Hugh comes here with a reputation already as a man of vision, commitment and energy, and perhaps, as a marathon runner, is that quality needed above all, in Northern Ireland, of endurance. 

I'm going to ask Hugh, because it's his day today to say a few words first, and then I'll say a few short words, and then we'll get down to business. But welcome, to what is probably the toughest position in Northern Ireland, if not throughout the United Kingdom, Chief Constable.

CHIEF CONSTABLE

Thank you, Secretary of State. As I said before, I didn't come here for a short sprint, this is a serious commitment for the next five years, to deliver a very high quality policing service to the communities of Northern Ireland. I'm looking forward to that.

I've just come from my first meeting with my top team, and we now have a full top team in place. Their commitment is exactly the same. We all know what we have to do, we look forward to doing it, and we look forward to working with all agencies that want to make a difference to policing.

SECRETARY OF STATE

Thank you very much, Hugh. I would just like to say a word of thanks to Colin, Colin Cramphorn, who has done a marvelous job over the past few months, and particularly the last few weeks, working with Jane Kennedy, the Security Minister. 

It has been a long, a hard, and in some places a very hot summer, and I am grateful to the efforts that have been made by the Police Service here to protect the vast majority of citizens of Northern Ireland, from what is a small minority. 

But that hard hot summer has left us with a lot of thinking to do, and there's a number of areas in which I think we need to be addressing very serious issues. 

The first of them obviously is the law and order position. The second of them is whether the court and prosecution system are functioning as effectively as they should be. The third is the political and communication relations in the local communities. And the fourth of them is the question of transparency, of putting before the people of Northern Ireland, as much information as we can, about who's responsible for this violence and some of the disorder that we've seen. 

These are issues that I and my Ministers will be addressing, along with the Police Service and other colleagues in the course of the next month. 

So we're about to start that today. You'll forgive us, we've a lot of work to do, so, and welcome the Chief Constable, then I invite him to come into his first official meeting with all of his colleagues, and I hope that you will give him the courtesy in the coming months that you've given him today, and all the many interviews that he's done.

BRIAN ROWAN - RADIO ULSTER 5 PM , Sept. 2, 2002

REPORTER

The new Chief Constable, Hugh Orde, has been outlining his priorities. On his first day in the job he met members of the Policing Board, and the Secretary of State. He said he would need full-time reserve officers for the foreseeable future, and wants more experienced detectives brought into the ranks.

BRIAN ROWAN

It's been a busy first day for the marathon running Chief Constable, Hugh Orde. He's been out on the road meeting his officers. And he's been making himself known to his wider audience on television and radio. It has been a day on which he has set out his policing stall. 

One of the Patten recommendations was that the full-time police reserve should go. Not yet says the new man in charge. He's made it clear, that for the foreseeable future he'll need those officers, and that's been welcome by David Trimble, criticized by Sinn Féin's Gerry Kelly. Hugh Orde has also said he needs more experienced detectives, and he may look outside Northern Ireland to get them. 

This afternoon, the new Chief Constable has been meeting the Secretary of State, and that will have provided him with another opportunity to spell out his needs. He likes a challenge, and Hugh Orde knows there's a policing mountain to climb, to achieve the new beginning outlined in the Patten report.
 

HUGH ORDE - BBC NEWSLINE, Sept. 2, 2002

NOEL THOMPSON

Now the Loyalist Commission also said that it had been acting, or the loyalists had been acting defensively because the police hadn't been doing their job, how do you respond to that on your first day?

HUGH ORDE

Well, I'll respond to that by saying we need to look at what we have been doing. I have had a large number of officers deployed on the interfaces, trying to keep warring factions apart, as a result of that officers have themselves been injured, and have now as a result gone off duty. 

So in terms of trying to police for long term of Northern Ireland, I need those factions to come together to communicate, and to agree to see cease the violence, so we can get on of doing a proper policing job, of policing the whole community, in the way they expect us to look after them.

NOEL THOMPSON

The Acting Chief Constable, whom you replaced today, painted a picture recently of a service stretched to the limit, not really a confidence inspiring image for the public or for you on your first day?

HUGH ORDE

Well, the officers I met are busy. They're working long hours, but their commitment is absolute. I was highly impressed by their commitment to delivering a high quality local service, so whilst, yes we are busy, we will continue to deliver that service. My job is to make sure we're properly resources, so that as a short term issue, and not a long term problem.

NOEL THOMPSON

You have a 1,000 men and officers off work everyday for sick reasons, what are you going to do about that?

 HUGH ORDE

We need to look at our sickness management strategy, and we need to get better. That having been said, the station I was at this morning has achieved a substantial reduction already in its sickness rate, through sound management. 

I'm going to Derry later, the lowest sickness in the whole of the province. So we need to look at what those people are doing, and learn from those, and move that across the rest of Northern Ireland.

NOEL THOMPSON

Is it a question of morale?

HUGH ORDE

Moral must play a part if one's absolutely frank with you, yes, of course it must.

NOEL THOMPSON

So morale is poor?

HUGH ORDE

Well, I think there's a difference between officers who are tired, and officers who have low morale. The officers I saw today were not, you know, were not suffering from very low moral, they were clearly tired, because they'd been working long hours to protect the communities. That's something I have to fix.

NOEL THOMPSON

And in that context, you can't afford to lose any more officers, so you want to keep the police reserve. You said people wanted to accept Patten and move on, your critics of course say you're just abandoning Patten, by saying you want to hang onto the reserve?

HUGH ORDE

We're not abandoning Patten at all. I'm committed to delivering Patten, that's my job. That's what we're obliged to do. It has been agreed, the issue is one of timing. 

Now the harsh reality is that I have nearly 2,000 full-time reserve, who are as I mentioned earlier and you should on your clip, front line officers, they are on the support groups, they're protecting people, and they're providing a front line policing response to the communities. They need certainty. They need to know what is going to happen them. 

My job is to convinced the Policing Board, with my human resource strategy that they are apart of it, but they are a part that over time they know, and I know will move on.

NOEL THOMPSON

What's going to be different about your leadership?

HUGH ORDE

Well, I've inherited a service that has moved from the Royal Ulster Constabulary (unclear), to the PSNI, a substantial achievement by my predecessor. My job is to move that on, and move the service forward, so we can convince all the communities of Northern Ireland that we are committed to providing a fair, equal and effective service.

IVAN LITTLE - UTV LIVE - Sept. 2, 2002

IVAN LITTLE

The new Chief Constable and sometime marathon runner, Hugh Orde, set off in his new job at a blistering pace, starting work at a quarter past 6 this morning, meeting some of his officers at Newtownabbey Police Station, and conducting interviews for journalists. 

Some cynics might say there simply aren't enough hours in the day for Mr. Orde to tackle all the problems facing him. In the shape of ongoing paramilitary violence, sectarian clashes at Belfast interfaces, and resources problems for a force which his predecessor said was near breaking point. Mr. Orde, however, said he was positive about the new job. He said his force needed to be better equipped for a major new push against the paramilitary godfathers, the serial killers he called them.

HUGH ORDE

You say the paramilitaries, the terrorists, the serial killers are well organized. We need to be better organized. We need to be smarter than they are. Now if they think they can sit back and relax on their ill-gotten gains, be it drug trafficking, be it extortion, be it terror, then we need to take them out for those offenses.

IVAN LITTLE

The former Metropolitan Deputy Assistant Commissioner said it was essential for the police reserve due to be scrapped under Patten, to be retained for the foreseeable future.

HUGH ORDE

I need reserve, I need it to continue carrying out the job. They are all frontline officers, they don't sit in offices, they are in the front line protecting communities. I will need them for the foreseeable future.

 IVAN LITTLE

On the Special Branch expected to be criticized by the Steven's Inquiry, which Mr. Orde headed before his new appointment, the Chief Constable said it was still a necessity.

HUGH ORDE

Every Police Service needs an intelligence gathering agency, that is simple, hard facts. Every Police Service has a Special Branch, that's another simple, hard fact. This service will have a Special Branch. It will be organized in such a way, that people realize it is essential in our fight against crime, be it terrorist, or be it criminal.

IVAN LITTLE

By mid-morning Hugh Orde has already met the Chairman of the Policing Board, Professor Desmond Rea, who was asked what they could do to help the new Chief Constable. 

DESMOND REA

We have asked the PSNI to give us their thinking on their plans, in terms of the management of their human resources. We are awaiting those proposals, and when we get them, we will sit down with the Chief Constable, and his senior officers, and we will discuss them.

IVAN LITTLE

During another question and answer session here, Mr. Orde told journalists, that he needed more police officers, especially experienced detectives. He said he may go to other UK forces to get them on loan or as new recruits. This afternoon at Stormont, the new Chief Constable met the Secretary of State, Dr John Reid, who described him as a man of vision, commitment, energy and endurance.
 

HUGH ORDE - UTV LIVE, Sept. 2, 2002

PAUL CLARKE

Hugh Orde, the outgoing, Acting Chief Constable said the cupboard was bare. Have you had a look inside the cupboard yet?

HUGH ORDE

Oh yes I have, and resources, he's absolutely right, are very stretched at the moment. That doesn't mean the Police Service of Northern Ireland will not respond to all the calls it gets from the public, it means we have to work extremely hard to achieve it. My job in the long term is to make sure we have the right number of resources to deliver a highly effective Policing Service across Northern Ireland.

PAUL CLARKE

You said you need to detectives, your best men have done?

HUGH ORDE

I have lost a lot of detectives under the Patten reforms. Highly experienced, well classed detectives at the middle rank of the spectrum. I need to replace those, and I need to replace them fairly quickly.

PAUL CLARKE

You can't just find them out of the ether. These are people who have to be trained, they have to, are they coming from other police services, other police forces, where do they come from?

HUGH ORDE

Well, this will take time, as we have to be absolutely frank about this. There are some short term measures I can look to, certainly to look to other parts of the United Kingdom, to see if I can beg, borrow or steal officers, or encourage them to come and join this service on a permanent basis. 

The longer term is we need to select our own, some of our best officers from a uniformed department, as every other Police Service does, and train them up, and move them across into the CID.

PAUL CLARKE

The reality is too many have gone too soon?

HUGH ORDE

The reality is we have lost a large number of officers. That was outside the Police Service's control, we need to now fix that problem.

PAUL CLARKE

But it's something that you have inherited, whether it was outside your control or not?

HUGH ORDE

Yes it is, It's a major issue for the service.

PAUL CLARKE

And it's worrying for us, as the public?

HUGH ORDE

Oh, the public need to reassured that there are over 9,000 officers, be they full-time reserve, or be they serving full-time officers, out there protecting on day in, day out. That will not change. The skills matter is one we can manage, we just need a little time to do it.

PAUL CLARKE

How do you cope with the 1,000 police officers a day, who are off sick?

 HUGH ORDE

Well, we need to look at that. we need a proper sickness management policy, as your report mentions in Newtownabbey today, they have achieved a substantial drop in their sickness, through sound management. I'm going to Derry later, one of the lowest sickness rates in Northern Ireland. Some places have identify good practice, we need to build on that.

PAUL CLARKE

You have won five marathons in London, do you intend to run a marathon in Belfast?

HUGH ORDE

If you'll sponsor me?

BRIAN ROWAN - BBC NEWSLINE, Sept. 2, 2002

BRIAN ROWAN

He's a marathon running Chief Constable, and this morning he was on the road early, as he set about the business of getting to know his officers.

Hugh Orde is now on a policing stage surrounded by political banana skins, and he knows he needs to choose his words carefully. The policing and political worlds are listening in. One of the Patten recommendations was that the full-time police reserves should go. Not yet, says the new man in charge.

HUGH ORDE

Reserves have played a vital role in recent history. They deserve certainty. They need to recognize under Patten, but over time, the Patten recommendations absolutely clear, but I need to be absolutely clear at the moment, I need reserve, I need them to continue carrying out the job. They are all frontline officers, they don't sit in offices. They are in the front line protecting communities. I will need them for the foreseeable future.

BRIAN ROWAN

For Hugh Orde, day one was not just about meeting his officers. But making himself known to a wider audience. And that meant interviews in all the major news outlets.

After Newtownabbey it was down to the Policing Board, for a meeting its Chairman. Hugh Orde spent a few minutes inside, and then emerged with Professor Desmond Rea, who offered him words of support.

DESMOND REA

Well I think that he came out in terms of the interviews, as the strongest candidate. We were impressed by what he said to us. We were impressed by his experience. We believe that he has the leadership qualities to do this job, and we wish him success in the future.

 BRIAN ROWAN

Success will depend on Hugh Orde having the tools to do the job, and he wants more detectives.

HUGH ORDE

We're already looking in Belfast region at how we support the detective ranks, by moving officers across from the uniform side. But there is a time gap in this, you know, we have to look at how we manage that time gap, and we will look at all sorts of different ways of doing that. 

Now that may include me going to college on the mainland, and asking them if they can loan me officers, or trying to recruit officers, to encourage officers to come and work here. Now I came here, I'm sure there are other officers who would be interested in working in this environment.

BRIAN ROWAN

It was relaxed at Stormont this afternoon, and the Secretary of State was in good humor, as he welcomed the new chief constable.

SECRETARY OF STATE

Hugh comes here with a reputation already as a man of vision, commitment and energy, and perhaps, as a marathon runner, is that quality needed above all, in Northern Ireland, of endurance.

BRIAN ROWAN

Hugh Orde, will certainly need that to climb Northern Ireland's policing mountain, and to produce the new beginning promised by Patten.

HUGH ORDE, NEW CHIEF CONSTABLE - GMU, Sept. 2, 2002

WENDY AUSTIN

I know you heard our news there this morning, and in many ways it's a snapshot of life here. A shooting, an attempted shooting, the aftermath of a hatchet attack, a petrol bombing, arson at a school, a hijacking. It's small wonder that many people here feel that law and order is breaking down. How are you going to stop that?

HUGH ORDE

Well, I think we need to go back to basics in policing terms, and we need to focus on gathering intelligence, and using that intelligence to arrest those people who are terrorizing the communities. Now that's what the Police Service can do. 

Obviously the more support it gets from the communities it serves, the more effective it is likely to be. Now, I don't under-estimate the challenge of achieving and building that confidence with communities. 

But the more successful we are at doing that, then the more successful we will be at protecting those communities, and removing the people who terrorize them and locking them up.

WENDY AUSTIN

You're going to do this with a force which, we're told, is demoralized, which you yourself have said is desperately short of detectives. Your predecessor has said it's stretched to breaking point. How do you start to try to change all of that, so that your officers can deal with what's happening out there in the community?

HUGH ORDE

Well, I didn't say it was going to be easy. I've just been to a police station, as you've mentioned. I've met the early shift going on, highly professional, competent officers going about their daily duties, committed to making a difference in the communities they serve, and doing some very interesting things already at a district level. 

I think the first stage is to make sure that as many of the resources we do have in the PSNI are at the front end of policing, and are based at districts, and under the command of the district superintendents, because that is where policing takes place, and the district superintendents and their teams, know the problems of their communities, because they talk to them. So, we need to look at what we have and make sure that they are at the front end, and not stuck in offices, albeit the work they may be doing is important. We just need to focus on that. 

In the longer term, yes, we need to recruit more officers. We are facing an officer shortfall, a substantial officer shortfall at the moment. That will not go away overnight, so we need to think differently about what we do now to try and make a difference more quickly.

WENDY AUSTIN

So you're going to put local policing to the fore, and you've already said this morning, underlined the importance to that of the full time Reserve. You are going to keep them on for the time being, or for as long as necessary, what?

HUGH ORDE

Well, Patten is absolutely clear in his recommendations, 103-105, around the long term future of the full-time Reserve, and I cannot change that. My responsibility, however, is to ensure the Police Board is fully aware of the consequences of winding them down too early. 

Now the full-time Reserve have an absolute right to be told what's going on, and I think they have an absolute right to some certainty. My initial meetings with the Police Board will be focused on discussing those points, and making sure they are aware of my policing need in the short term.

 I think the point I made this morning, the important point, was full-term Reserve officers are not officers who sit in offices, they run on the support groups, they do security, and they run protection duties. So they are very important at the front end of policing. Now, if I was to lose them today, I would be in severe difficulty. So, I need to make sure the Police Board is aware of that, but I also need to make sure that the officers are fully aware that they (a) have some certainty in the short term, but over time, the reality is the full-time Reserve will go. That is what Patten has said, that's not optional, it's just a question of timing.

 WENDY AUSTIN

Staying with Patten for a moment, another of the recommendations was for a new police college, for some kind of center of excellence. Is that something that you're going to be aiming for in the shorter term too?

HUGH ORDE

Well, it's essential we get started. Patten was unequivocal, I am unequivocal, we need to have a training facility that is the best in the world. We have an opportunity to deliver that, because it would be literally a green-field site development. 

I cannot train my officers properly in the conditions I have at the moment. We are working under severe conditions in terms of space, and in terms of facilities. They have a right to be properly trained. They have a right to have opportunities to develop their skills, for example, in the CID, where we need more officers. 

And I will be pushing hard to get some staff on that. We cannot wait much longer.

WENDY AUSTIN

What about street violence, Chief Constable, it's been a big problem, an increasingly big problem over recent months? How do you see your Police Service tackling that?

HUGH ORDE

Well, as I've said, we can police the violence, but the communities need to come together, and we need to work with their communities to stop the violence. Every time disorder breaks out, we will deploy officers to deal with it. 

Anywhere in the world where that happens, anywhere in the world, both sides tend to turn against the police, and I take casualties. Every casualty is an officer who cannot do a more constructive job, protecting the communities, that they actually want to do. 

So, we need to work together with communities, and mediation groups, the Northern Ireland Office, the Secretary of State, to try and persuade the warring factions to come together, and at least deliver some form of solution, so I can get on with doing more constructive policing duties. We are losing a lot of officers, in terms of injuries. 

Every officer who is injured, obviously has to go sick until they recover. That puts more pressure on their colleagues who are left. So we need to work with people to solve it.

WENDY AUSTIN

We hear a lot of talk from just ordinary people, and I'm sure you'll be hearing it too among those that you meet. People are worried here about the way that crime has changed, if you like, the increasing levels of assaults, of burglaries, of muggings, of nasty crimes where, not only do they break into an old person's home to steal their purse, but they are determined to beat them up at the same time. 

And, yet, we also hear of police stations closing down, and people are now concerned too, that officers might not be able to reach them, even if they're telephoned. And we've heard some of your officers saying that there are instances when they are worried about answering calls, because they feel that they might be a trap. How do you answer that whole concern that exists within the community?

HUGH ORDE

Well, what you're describing, is the very difficult policing environment in which my officers have to operate day in, day out, and do operate day in, day out. It is a difficult one to look at, but if you'd just take, for example, police stations. This is a problem across the country, where police stations are closing. 

The reality is, if police stations close and that frees up police officers to patrol, and to deliver the service, then it may be the best way forward. But, again, if we go back to Patten, he is clear, if we think about closing police stations, we must consult with the communities, and our job is to make sure the communities understand the impact of a closed police station. 

It may well be that, by closing a couple of police stations, we free up half a dozen or so officers to provide an effective front line policing service. So it may improve performance, not detract from it. And we need to be absolutely clear about that.

WENDY AUSTIN

But, will they come, if you ring them. I mean that's the problem, isn't it? You know, if someone's breaking into your house, or your garage, or burning your car in your driveway, if you ring the police, will they come?

HUGH ORDE

Well, it's what they've been doing day in, day out, in the normal policing world of Northern Ireland. It is difficult, we must remember there is a security situation here. It was not that long ago, that a new serving officer was attacked at his home with a bomb under his car. 

So, you know, the police realize that they are targets, they bravely continue to go out and serve the communities. They do it all the time. Where I am today, for example, we've got a new initiative, we've two officers patrolling an area of Rathcoole, as home beat foot patrol officers. 

Clearly very brave decisions, not only by the police station that has decided to do this, but by the officers who have volunteered to go up front and deliver that sort of front line community policing service. So, of course, my officers will turn up when people call for help. That's what they joined for, that's what they're doing.

WENDY AUSTIN

You'll also hear people saying to you, though, that this business of, you know, getting more officers out on patrol, but if there are 4 of them driving around the center of Belfast in the one car, that seems to be a bit of a waste of manpower, of officer power.

HUGH ORDE

Yes, it would do. I would not want to comment on individual cases, because there may well have been a good reason, where someone may have seen something as anecdotal as that, but I mean police officers, the bottom line is, we need to get as many police officers, as we can, into the district police stations, because they know how best to use the resources. 

I mean, for example, this morning we have officers who have chosen to work 12-hour shifts, not eight-hour shifts, because they realize it is a more efficient way of policing externally. It doesn't necessarily suit the officers, but they have worked out, this is a better way of providing a better policing service, and they are prepared to do it. 

I've just met the shift coming off, after a 12-hour busy shift, and they're looking forward to going back on tonight, because police officers across the world do that, because that's what they want to do. They join the Police Service to protect people. Northern Ireland is no different.

WENDY AUSTIN

Of course, just one final point, Chief Constable. Sinn Féin are still not on board, as far as the Policing Board's concerned, and Denis Bradley, the Deputy Chairman of that Board, has called for Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness to meet you. Would you be keen to do that?

HUGH ORDE

Well, I have said in response to that already, and I will say it again. I will meet and speak to anyone that wants to make a positive contribution to policing in Northern Ireland. That is unequivocal.

 I will meet anyone that wants to do that. In terms of the structure of the Police Board, well that's a matter for the Police Board. But I would say, the more representative of the communities the Police Board is, the more effective it is likely to be. 

And, from a personal point of view, the more likely I am to be able to recruit the right number of officers in accordance with the Patten regulations, that I am determined to do.
 

BRIAN ROWAN REPORT ON NEW CHIEF CONSTABLE - BBC NEWSLINE LUNCHTIME NEWS , Sept. 2, 2002

BRIAN ROWAN

Day one in the top policing job here, and Hugh Orde gets about the business of getting to know his officers.

All eyes are on the new man, and policing and political ears will be listening to his every word. One of the Patten recommendations was that the full-time Police Reserve should go. Not yet, says the new Chief Constable.

HUGH ORDE

The Reserves have played a vital role in recent history. They deserve certainty. They need to recognize, under Patten, that over time, that Patten recommendations are absolutely clear, but I need to be absolutely clear at the moment. I need the Reserve, I need them to continue carrying out the job. They are all front line officers, they don't sit in offices, they're on the front line protecting communities. I will need them for the foreseeable future.

BRIAN ROWAN

Day one is not just about making himself known to his officers, but about making himself known to the wider audience as well. So it's a day of interviews, and all the major news outlets. From Newtownabbey, the Chief Constable then traveled to the Policing Board.

Hugh Orde spent a few minutes inside, and then appeared with the Board Chairman, who had words of support for the new Chief Constable.

DESMOND REA

I think that he came out, in terms of the interviews, as the strongest candidate. We were impressed by what he said to us. We were impressed by his experience. We believe that he has the leadership qualities to do this job, and we wish him success in the future.

BRIAN ROWAN

And down at the Board, Hugh Orde had more to say on his shopping list. He needs more experienced detectives.

HUGH ORDE

They're already looking in Belfast region at how we support the detective ranks by moving officers across from the uniform side. But there is a time gap in this, you know, we have to look at how we manage that time gap. And we will look at all sorts of different ways of doing that. 

Now that may include me going to colleagues on the mainland, and asking them if they can loan me officers, or trying to recruit officers, to encourage officers to come and work here. Now, I came here. I'm sure there are other officers who would be interested in working in this environment.

BRIAN ROWAN

So Hugh Orde has been setting out his stall. And this afternoon, he has an opportunity to speak directly to the Secretary of State.

NEWS READER

Well, the Ulster Unionist leader, David Trimble, has welcomed Hugh Orde's comments on the future of the full-time Reserve. Speaking from Johannesburg, where he's at the Earth Summit, David Trimble said he was glad the Chief Constable was willing to commit himself to maintaining the Reserve, as a crucial component of local law enforcement. 

But Sinn Féin have said it's not goods news for nationalists. The party's policing spokesman, Gerry Kelly, said Mr. Orde did not represent a new beginning to policing.

GERRY KELLY

It's not anything personal to do with Hugh Orde, or to do with Ronnie Flanagan, or anyone else. It is the decision which counts, and there is within the policing arrangements, at the moment, which are inadequate, there is too much power with the Chief Constable. 

And the example, for instance, is in the statement today, where they're saying they're not going to deal with the full-time Reserve, that they're going to maintain them, running in the face of the Patten Report.
 

(Transcripts courtesy of the Northern Ireland Information Service)