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Michael McGimpsey was the subject of much ire from Peter Robinson during his closing speech in today's debate. The Health Minister had asked on Good morning Ulster whether a local future Sinn Fein Justice Minister would support the Chief Constable should he need to request army support in the event of an upsurge in civil unrest. Apart from rejecting the suggestion that Sinn Fein might get the job after 2012 the DUP are calling the "army support" question "complete claptrap". They insist that the Chief Constable will have operational independence.

NIO guidance on this score is that if the Chief Constable made an application for large scale army support "the Department of Justice would be informed of all such applications. The Secretary of State would lead on the deployment as the Armed Forces remain an excepted matter under Schedule 2 to the Northern Ireland Act 1998."

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