Difference between revisions of "Northern Ireland Co-operation Overseas"
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Latest revision as of 21:36, 16 October 2026
Belfast-based public-sector international-development company; CSSF contractor
| Northern Ireland Co-operation Overseas | |
|---|---|
| Trade name | |
| Logo | |
| Type | Company registered at Companies House |
| Founded | 8 January 1992 (incorporated) |
| Founder(s) | |
| Defunct | |
| Headquarters | Antrim |
| Industry | Other professional, scientific and technical activities not elsewhere classified |
| Services | |
| Parent | |
| Subsidiaries | |
| Revenue | |
| Number of employees | |
| Homepage | |
Northern Ireland Co-operation Overseas (Northern Ireland Co-Operation Overseas (Ni-Co) Ltd, Companies House number NI026211) is a contractor to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) under the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF). Companies House records the company as incorporated on 8 January 1992, with status "Liquidation", nature of business "74909 - Other professional, scientific and technical activities not elsewhere classified".[1][2] It is a named supplier on Lot 1 of the CSSF Framework Agreement 2023–27.[3] Contracts Finder lists 2 published CSSF award(s) to the organisation with a combined stated value of £1,627,250. FCO and FCDO payments to it over £25,000 recorded in published departmental spending data total about £3,475,199; these figures cover all FCO/FCDO (and, after September 2020, former Department for International Development) programmes and are not limited to the CSSF.[4]
Overview
NI-CO describes itself as building "efficient, accountable and sustainable public sector institutions".[5] A notice to creditors in The Gazette records its members' voluntary liquidation, with joint liquidators from KPMG.[6]
NI-CO was set up in 1992 and owned by Invest Northern Ireland. The Irish News reported in 2023 that it would be wound up on 31 March 2024 because, after Brexit, it could no longer bid for EU projects in the 2021–27 funding period. The board had concluded on 26 June 2023 that the company was no longer a going concern. The paper reported revenue of £10.2m in 2022–23 and 18 staff facing redundancy, and said NI-CO had been led for 30 years by Graeme McCammon.[7] NI-CO said it had delivered 729 projects in 120 countries, in sectors including "Policing & Accessible Justice" and cyber security, and published a testimonial from Qatar's Ministry of Interior.[5]
CSSF/ISF and other UK government work
NI-CO was also among the suppliers awarded a place on Lot B of the original 2015 CSSF framework agreement.[8]
From 2012 the FCO funded a technical-assistance programme for Bahrain, drawing "mainly from" the CSSF and later the Integrated Activity Fund and Global Britain Fund. NI-CO was one of its "principal implementers", according to a 2018 report by the human rights charity Reprieve and the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD).[9] The BBC reported that NI-CO had been awarded a £900,000 FCO contract in 2015 to help reform Bahrain's security forces.[10]
The Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) reviewed the CSSF's aid spending in March 2018 and gave it an amber-red score, finding the fund responsive to National Security Council priorities but with weak results management and inadequate evidence of outcomes and value for money.[11] ICAI published a follow-up review in 2019.[12]
Controversies and criticism
In 2009 the Evening Standard reported that NI-CO had won a £51,333 contract from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), under which four retired Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers and a retired Metropolitan Police officer would give surveillance training to 20 Libyan drug-law enforcement officers in October 2009, under Muammar Gaddafi's government.[13] Separately, the BBC and RTÉ reported in September 2009 that serving PSNI officers had trained Libyan police through the National Policing Improvement Agency, which angered unionist politicians given Libya's past supply of weapons to the IRA. Those reports concern the NPIA arrangement, not NI-CO.[14][15]
The Reprieve/BIRD report alleged that NI-CO provided 863 days of training to Bahraini prison guards and officials and trained 400 guards at Jau Prison, where, it said, prisoners were tortured, some during the period of UK training. It said the Ombudsman and Special Investigation Unit, which NI-CO had trained, "refused to adequately investigate" torture allegations from death-row prisoners. It also alleged that Bahraini police arrested and tortured a teenage protester weeks after NI-CO-facilitated training in Belfast on "community intelligence". The report said NI-CO declined to meet the researchers, and that by 2017 NI-CO had stopped working with its former Bahraini partners while FCO funding continued through other channels.[9] Responding to an earlier 2016 Reprieve report, From Belfast to Bahrain: The Torture Trail, Stormont economy minister Simon Hamilton refused to suspend NI-CO's work. He said it "complied with rigorous UK Human Rights standards" and that reviews of its impact had been "positive".[10] A Foreign Office spokesman said that "only by working with Bahrain are we able to bring about the changes we would like to see".[16]
Published CSSF contracts
| Award date | Contract | Value (£) | Supplier name as published | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-12-04 | CSSF: Lots A/B: Guyana: Financial Investigations Mentor | 227,250 | Northern Ireland Co-operation Overseas | [17] |
| 2019-12-20 | CSSF: Pakistan Post Arrival and Reintegration Assistance | 1,400,000 | Northern Ireland Co-operation Overseas | [18] |
FCO/FCDO payments
| Year | Amount (£) |
|---|---|
| 2013 | 1,686,338 |
| 2014 | 1,500,953 |
| 2015 | 287,908 |
| Total | 3,475,199 |
People
| Name | Role | Appointed | Resigned |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brona Brennan | Director | 1 October 2021 | – |
| Siobhan Fitzpatrick (Siobhan Margaret Fitzpatrick) | Director | 1 October 2021 | – |
| Kenneth Nelson (Kenneth John Nelson) | Director | 1 October 2021 | – |
| Colin Sullivan | Director | 1 April 2009 | – |
| David Morrissey | Secretary | 8 January 1992 | 31 March 2024 |
| Jean Avery | Director | 8 January 1992 | 30 December 1999 |
| Malcolm Briant | Director | 8 January 1992 | 31 December 2003 |
| Glyn Capper (Glyn Charles Capper) | Director | 1 December 2021 | 31 March 2023 |
| William Chambers (William Donaldson Chambers) | Director | 8 January 1992 | 30 June 2000 |
| Christopher Conway | Director | 1 October 2013 | 31 December 2021 |
| Moira Doherty | Director | 1 April 2011 | 30 September 2015 |
| Peter Fitzsimmons (Peter Desmond Fitzsimmons) | Director | 1 April 2007 | 31 March 2014 |
| Alan Hingston | Director | 8 January 1992 | 31 March 2006 |
| Stephen Hodkinson | Director | 1 April 2006 | 31 March 2009 |
| Sean Holland | Director | 1 April 2009 | 30 September 2022 |
| Adrian Huston (Adrian Robert Arthur Huston) | Director | 1 April 2007 | 30 September 2013 |
| Helen Kirkpatrick | Director | 1 April 2001 | 31 December 2006 |
| Timothy Losty (Timothy Gregory Losty) | Director | 1 December 2021 | 30 September 2022 |
| Peter Luney (Peter Robert Luney) | Director | 1 December 2019 | 30 September 2021 |
| Mary Madden | Director | 1 September 2016 | 31 March 2018 |
| Sean Mahon | Director | 1 April 2007 | 30 September 2013 |
| Paul Martin | Director | 1 October 2006 | 31 December 2008 |
| Cecil Mc Murray (Cecil Hugh Mc Murray) | Director | 8 January 1992 | 31 December 2002 |
| Seamus McAleavey (Seamus James Gerard McAleavey) | Director | 1 April 2001 | 31 March 2008 |
| Denise McAlister (Professor Denise Angela McAlister) | Director | 1 April 2001 | 31 March 2008 |
| Sheila McClelland (Sheila Violet McClelland) | Director | 1 October 2013 | 30 September 2021 |
| George McIlroy (Dr George McIlroy) | Director | 8 September 2003 | 31 March 2010 |
| Liam McKbben | Director | 1 April 2010 | 31 March 2011 |
| Karen Pearson (Karen Jayne Pearson) | Director | 1 September 2018 | 30 September 2019 |
| George Priestley | Director | 8 January 1992 | 30 June 2000 |
| Ciaran Rogan (Ciaran John Rogan) | Director | 1 October 2013 | 30 September 2021 |
| Samuel Torrens (Samuel Henry Torrens) | Director | 8 January 1992 | 30 June 2000 |
| William White (William Charles Stephen White) | Director | 1 October 2013 | 30 September 2021 |
| Edward Wilson | Director | 1 April 2001 | 31 March 2007 |
See also
Notes
- ↑ Companies House, NORTHERN IRELAND CO-OPERATION OVERSEAS (NI-CO) LTD (NI026211) Companies House, accessed 16 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Companies House, NORTHERN IRELAND CO-OPERATION OVERSEAS (NI-CO) LTD (NI026211): officers Companies House, accessed 16 October 2026.
- ↑ Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) Framework Agreement (2023-2027): contract award notice 029743-2023 Find a Tender Service, 2023.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Foreign and Commonwealth Office, FCO departmental spending over £25,000 GOV.UK, 2010–2020; Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, FCDO: departmental spending over £25,000 GOV.UK, 2020–2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 NI-CO, NI-CO – Northern Ireland Co-operation Overseas Ltd NI-CO, accessed 16 October 2026.
- ↑ The Gazette, Northern Ireland Co-operation Overseas (NI-CO) Ltd: Notice to Creditors The Gazette, accessed 16 October 2026.
- ↑ The Irish News, Invest NI-owned overseas body to be wound up next year due to Brexit The Irish News, 2023.
- ↑ Bidstats, Conflict, Stability and Security Fund framework (award notice) Bidstats, December 2015.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Reprieve and BIRD, Training Torturers: The UK's role in Bahrain's brutal crackdown on dissent Reprieve, May 2018.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Vincent Kearney, BBC News NI, Hamilton backs NI-CO over Bahrain 'torture' appeal BBC News, 2 November 2016.
- ↑ Independent Commission for Aid Impact, The Conflict, Stability and Security Fund's aid spending ICAI, March 2018.
- ↑ Independent Commission for Aid Impact, ICAI follow-up of: The Conflict, Stability and Security Fund's aid spending ICAI, 2019.
- ↑ Evening Standard, Former Scotland Yard officer to train Gaddafi police Evening Standard, 2009.
- ↑ BBC News, PSNI officers trained Libyan police BBC News, September 2009.
- ↑ RTÉ News, PSNI training of Libyan police criticised RTÉ, 18 September 2009.
- ↑ Kevin Rawlinson, The Guardian, British police criticised for lack of transparency in Bahrain training deal The Guardian, 29 August 2016.
- ↑ Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, CSSF: Lots A/B: Guyana: Financial Investigations Mentor Contracts Finder, 2017-12-04.
- ↑ Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, CSSF: Pakistan Post Arrival and Reintegration Assistance Contracts Finder, 2019-12-20.