Irish American reaction as Hugh Orde steps down

“We’d be very happy to acknowledge that he did a good job. He inherited a situation from the RUC that was very difficult. We do have some criticisms of his handling of various issues – he unfortunately continued the old practice of the North of withholding information from inquests. But elsewhere, he has shown a certain amount of courage.”

Alex Maskey, a Sinn Fein member of Northern Ireland’s Assembly, who sits on Northern Ireland’s Policing Board – the authority set up to supervise the PSNI -  said: “I’ve been on record as saying that Huge Orde has made a very significant contribution to policing in Northern Ireland. But there is a lot of work that remains to be done and I look forward to working with the new PSNI head in the future.”

Maskey said that he found Orde “very open” to deal with.

“We would have disagreed on any number of issues but we were always able to get on with things and work with one other.”

​
Nster.com