An independent report has found that the Police Service of Northern Ireland showed no bias in its handling of the funeral of senior Republican Bobby Storey last June and supported a decision not to prosecute senior Sinn Féin politicians in attendance.
The report from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) was commissioned by Justice Minister Naomi Long.
It concluded that the PSNI had prioritised public security over enforcement of Covid-19 regulations and said it understood why the PSNI took this approach "given the likelihood of tensions, and because Covid-19 Regulations were confusing".
However, it said the PSNI had anticipated that breaches would occur on the day of the funeral and "should have explained and encouraged compliance" with the regulations "before the funeral took place".
Around 2,000 mourners attended the funeral of Bobby Storey in West Belfast last June, when public health regulations limited public gatherings to 30 people.
Among those in attendance were Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill and Finance Minister Conor Murphy.
The PSNI had faced heavy criticism over its handling of the funeral.
DUP leader Arlene Foster had called for the resignation of Chief Constable Simon Byrne and also said the DPP Stephen Herron should consider his position.
The Ulster Unionist Party also supported calls for Mr Byrne's resignation.
The HMIC report today concluded that much of the public criticism of the PSNI following the funeral was "unwarranted" and that police took a consistent approach to investigating alleged breaches at similar funerals or events.
Michelle O'Neill will not face prosecution over Bobby Storey funeral
Funeral for Bobby Storey held in Belfast
It concluded that while there were some grounds for criticising the PSNI approach, they were not serious failings and "do not approach the level at which censure of individual officers or resignations would be justified".
The inspectorate also said the PPS was right not to prosecute politicians who attended the funeral because "there was no realistic prospect of them being convicted".
The DPP previously stated the fact that police had engaged with organisers prior to the funeral taking place was one of the factors behind the decision not to prosecute the individuals.
He also said that there was a "lack of clarity and coherence" over the Covid-19 regulations at the time.
Mr Herron said these factors would pose an "insurmountable difficulty" if any of the individuals were to be prosecuted.
Today's report concluded that the public health regulations at the time of the funeral were both "confusing and controversial" and "that alone posed an insurmountable problem for the PSNI".
The Inspector of Constabulary Matt Parr said today that he was reassured that the PSNI had shown no bias in its handling of the funeral", but said there were lessons to learn and made a number of recommendations.
These include that police "broadly communicate" the 4Es (engage, explain, encourage and enforce) when breaches of Covid-19 regulations are anticipated at events, to make and retain proper records of conversations with event organiser and to carry out a formal debrief at the end of policy operations.
The inspectorate also agreed with recommendations made by the Public Prosecution Service, including that the PSNI should engage with event organisers as early as possible to discuss risk assessments, and that the service should identify professional contacts they can engage with to interpret changes in the law that could affect the policing of an event.
Following the publication of the report, Chief Constable Simon Byrne welcomed the findings.
"We are committed to impartiality and are pleased that the report concludes that there was no bias in our handling of the funeral, and that the same approach would have been taken if the funeral was held within a different community", he said.
Chief Constable Byrne also said that the findings support the practice of early engagement and recommends this continues.
He said the PSNI is "determined to work with the entire community to enhance confidence in policing as an impartial and even-handed service".
Northern Ireland's Justice Minister Naomi Long said the report highlights that "all politicians and community leaders have a part to play in working with the police to build and maintain public confidence in policing, and that they should be mindful of the consequences, intended or otherwise, of their comments."
Michael Parr told RTÉ News that "the most important thing" they found was that it was a "very, very confusing and difficult time for the PSNI" and that Covid-19 regulations were "far from clear".
He said that the HMIC was "sympathetic" with the fact the PSNI were unable to explain the rules clearly but also criticised police saying there was more they could have done.
He said that it was "far from clear that anyone actually broke the law" in attending Bobby Storey's funeral.
"I know it looked bad, and I understand why a lot of people were outraged, but the state of the legislation at the time, meant as far as we could tell, it wasn't at all obvious that anyone had broken the law", he said.
Mr Parr said that calls for Chief Constable Simon Byrne to resign were unjustified.
He said the inspectorate said that "people should be careful about jumping to conclusions" and should not "criticise so strongly" until they have the full facts.
"In this case I don't think they justify it", he said.
He said the inspectorate is used to criticising police, but "not every criticism justifies a call for the resignation of a chief constable or a kind of widespread condemnation of the PSNI and in this case we don't think that is justified".
DUP MLA Mervyn Storey said that unionists would view this report with scepticism and he called for further examination into the actions of the Chief Constable and other senior officers.
He said that the PSNI "made preventing disorder their top priority, whilst avoiding Covid breaches was a 'distant third'."
Responding, Sinn Féin MLA Gerry Kelly said: "Unionists cannot simply reject the findings of reports because they do not like the outcome."
Mr Kelly said that this is now the third report into this funeral and that it should be remembered there is a grieving family at the heart of this.
