Sunak expected in Northern Ireland during Biden visit, police chief says

Jonathan McCambridge, PA

British prime minister Rishi Sunak is expected to be in Northern Ireland during the visit of US president Joe Biden, PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne has told the Policing Board.

A major operation to police a series of events around the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement will cost around £7 million and see 300 police officers from Britain travel to Northern Ireland.

The White House confirmed this week that Mr Biden would visit Ireland next week, with his visit beginning in Belfast to coincide with the anniversary of the peace deal.

Mr Byrne briefed his oversight body on the policing operation during a meeting in Belfast.

He said: “He (Mr Biden) arrives in Northern Ireland on Tuesday evening, 11th April, and leaves on Wednesday 12th.

“Engagements have been planned for a number of parts of the Greater Belfast area and the prime minister is also expected to visit Northern Ireland during this time.”

Mr Byrne added: “The second phase of the policing operation will be between 17th and 19th April when a number of politicians who were in office at the time of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, as well as current office holders, will be in attendance at these events.”

The Chief Constable said a high-profile cyber conference was also happening in Belfast at the same time.

He said: “The policing operation will be significant and our role, obviously, is to facilitate all of these events in a safe way and to provide protection to the variety of visitors, politicians and participants, and also to keep the venues safe.

“Mindful of the threat level, a theme which runs throughout these plans is to assure the safety of our officers and staff while we continue to police the country.”

Mr Byrne said the PSNI did not have the capacity to resource all of the events without assistance from other forces.

He said: “I am really grateful to colleagues from across UK policing that have now provided in the region of 300 officers that will be based here over the next two weeks to provide specialist support services to help police some of that operation.

“Some of the examples will be specialist motorcycle escort officers, firearms specialists and search specialists.

“You will see people from other parts of the UK here.

“Clearly this will drain the resource available for day-to-day policing and also put an additional cost pressure into our already-stretched budget.

“We assess it will be in the region of £7 million to police the events over the next few days.”