Minister Jim O’Callaghan Announces Appointment of Independent Expert
- Foilsithe:
- An t-eolas is déanaí: 23 Meán Fómhair 2025
The UK Government and the Government of Ireland announced in February that they would jointly appoint an Independent Expert to carry out a short scoping and engagement exercise to assess whether there is merit in, and support for, a formal process of engagement to bring about paramilitary group transition to disbandment.
Following a joint selection process, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Hilary Benn and Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, Jim O’Callaghan have appointed Fleur Ravensbergen to the role of Independent Expert.
The Independent Expert will take up the role, within the existing Independent Reporting Commission (IRC) legislative framework, on 23 September 2025 and is expected to complete the scoping and engagement exercise and submit their report by mid-August 2026.
The Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration Jim O’Callaghan said:
“It is vital that we are doing all that we can to end paramilitarism. I am convinced that the time is right to test whether there is the basis for paramilitary group transition to disbandment. 27 years since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, it is past time that the paramilitary groups accepted the democratic will of the people of this Island. The exercise to be undertaken by the Independent Expert gives us an important opportunity to inform a future decision by the Governments as to whether there is the basis for a formal process of transition.
Fleur Ravensbergen brings a wealth of international experience and expertise to these significant and complex issues and I am very pleased that she has agreed to take on this role. I am confident that through her engagement and with her report next year, she will make an important contribution to these collective efforts. I wish her well in her work.”
The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Simon Harris said:
“This joint appointment by the UK Government and the Government of Ireland is the beginning of an initiative which I hope will allow real progress to be made towards our shared goal of ending paramilitarism once and for all. The Government of Ireland will provide any appropriate supports necessary to the Independent Expert in carrying out their work, while recognising and respecting the critical importance of their independence. This exercise has no predetermined outcome and I would urge all relevant stakeholders to engage with her in this work.”
Notes for editors
Bio of Fleur Ravensbergen
Fleur Ravensbergen is an independent conflict resolution and negotiation practitioner, and a lecturer in conflict resolution and governance at the University of Amsterdam. She has broad and deep experience of supporting dialogue around the world including in the Middle East, Central Africa and Europe. She is a member of the Peace and Security Commission of the Advisory Council of International Affairs (AIV) which advises the Dutch Government and parliament on peace and security. She serves as the Facilitator for ABN AMRO’s Human Rights Grievance and Remedy Mechanism and is an Advisory Council Member for Fight for Humanity - a Geneva-based human rights organisation. Previously she co-founded and was Deputy Director of the Dialogue Advisory Group, an Amsterdam-based NGO that facilitates dialogue in armed conflict.
Background to the appointment
The Fresh Start Agreement was concluded on 17 November 2015. It included measures aimed at ending paramilitary activity in Northern Ireland.
The Northern Ireland Executive, on the basis of recommendations from an expert panel, published the Executive Action Plan for Tackling Paramilitarism, Criminality and Organised Crime on 19 July 2016. It contains 43 commitments in response to the Panel’s recommendations. The Executive agreed a second phase of the Tackling Paramilitarism Programme (now called the Executive Programme on Paramilitarism and Organised Crime) which began in 2021 and will run until March 2027.
To facilitate monitoring of the implementation of measures to address paramilitarism, the Fresh Start Agreement provides for the establishment by the two governments of the Independent Reporting Commission (IRC). Legislation was enacted in Ireland and the UK to establish the IRC.
The IRC’s functions are to:
- report annually on progress towards ending continuing paramilitary activity connected with Northern Ireland (or on such further occasions as required)
- report on the implementation of the relevant measures of the three administrations – critical here is the Northern Ireland Executive’s Programme on Paramilitarism and Organised Crime; and
- consult the UK Government and relevant law enforcement agencies, the Irish Government and relevant law enforcement agencies and, in Northern Ireland, the Executive, PSNI, statutory agencies, local councils, communities and civic society organisations
The IRC is a four-member body. Mr Tim O’ Connor, former Secretary General to the President was nominated by the Irish Government. The UK Government nominated Mr Mitchell Reiss, former US Special Envoy to Northern Ireland. Prof. Monica McWilliams and Mr John McBurney were nominated by the Northern Ireland Executive.
In their 5th Report (December 2022) the IRC recommended the appointment of an Independent Person to assess whether there would be merit in, and support for, a formal process that ensures the transition to disbandment of paramilitary groups.
Building on that recommendation, and the recommendation of others, including in evidence to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, on how further progress could be made towards ending paramilitarism, the two governments have agreed to jointly appoint in the period ahead an Independent Expert to carry out scoping and engagement to assess whether there is merit in and support for a formal process of engagement to bring about paramilitary group transition to disbandment.
TERMS OF REFERENCE - PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES
The objective of the Independent Expert is, through independent scoping and engagement, to assess whether there is merit in and support for a formal process that ensures the transition to disbandment of paramilitary groups and to produce a report by mid-August 2026.
The Independent Expert will carry out their work in line with the overarching objectives of the IRC which are:
● promoting progress towards ending paramilitary activity; and
● supporting long term peace and stability in society and stable and inclusive devolved Government in Northern Ireland
In carrying out their functions, the Independent Expert will be mindful throughout of the overarching vision of the Fresh Start Agreement for the “continued transformation of our society,” and the goal of “the primacy of the democratic political process in Northern Ireland and the ending of paramilitarism” as well as the recommitment to tackling paramilitarism made by the parties in the New Decade, New Approach Agreement in 2020.
Functions
To achieve their objective, the Independent Expert will carry out a programme of exploratory engagement with inter alia:
● representatives of communities affected by paramilitarism, including victims of paramilitary activity;
● representatives of wider society in Northern Ireland;
● representatives of the statutory agencies likely to have a role in aspects of implementation of a formal process of engagement with paramilitary groups aimed at facilitating their disbandment;
● representatives of paramilitary groups who have an interest in ending the violence and wider harms caused by paramilitary groups
To achieve their objective the Independent Expert will consider through this programme of engagement, inter alia, the following:
● Issues that are currently perceived or presented as a barrier and issues that could enable paramilitary group transition to disbandment;
● the advantages and disadvantages of a formal process of engagement with paramilitary groups aimed at facilitating their transition to disbandment;
● the feasibility and advisability of such a formal process;
● levels of willingness to engage in a formal process ;
● expectations of what would be achieved through participation in such a process;
● the issues likely to arise over the course of a formal process of engagement; and
● the extent to which such a process would substantially contribute to furthering the commitments of the Fresh Start Agreement to work collectively to achieve a society free of paramilitarism.
The Independent Expert will produce a report by mid-August 2026 setting out what could be in scope of a formal process that ensures the transition to disbandment of paramilitary groups and the levels of public support for such a process. This should include recommendations on whether there would be merit in establishing a formal process of engagement with paramilitary groups aimed at facilitating their transition towards disbandment, and if so, how such a formal process could be established to have the highest chance of success including in terms of structure, milestones, timeframe and reporting/verification arrangements.
The Independent Expert should reflect in their report, based on what they have heard through their engagement, on alternative or additional approaches which could help promote progress towards ending paramilitary harm and activity and support long term peace and stability in NI and may merit further consideration.
Approach and delivery
In carrying out the functions described above, the Independent Expert will engage the UK Government, the Government of Ireland and respective law enforcement agencies, the NI Executive and other statutory agencies, local councils, political parties, communities, and civic society organisations in order to understand their perspectives on the issue.
The Independent Expert will have a strong focus in their work on recommendations aimed at promoting and supporting practical, comprehensive and effective trauma-informed measures and initiatives that aim to bring about the continued transformation of society envisioned in the Fresh Start Agreement.
Throughout their scoping and engagement, the Independent Expert should actively encourage the ending of all paramilitary and criminal activity. They should make clear that PSNI and their partners will continue to work to bring those involved in paramilitary criminality to justice and that group behaviours will be taken as an indication of levels of commitment to transition to disbandment, in particular, supporting the police and criminal justice system in tackling criminality, including drug dealing, extortion, and child criminal and sexual exploitation. The Independent Expert should remind their interlocutors that the IRC and others have been clear about the behaviours that would demonstrate a commitment to moving from violence and harm and these include:
● Ending recruitment to paramilitary groups;
● Giving up paramilitary structures and activity;
● Ceasing mobilisation of members;
● Ceasing to exercise coercive power and control in communities;
● Ending of all paramilitary style attacks and all other forms of violence, threat of violence or intimidation;
● Disposal of any remaining weaponry and materiel;
● Allowing people to exit from paramilitarism without cost or consequence;
● Publicly supporting the PSNI and criminal justice system in tackling criminality and committing to democracy and the rule of law; and
● Engaging with legacy bodies.