The PSNI has admitted that it is continuing to forward data obtained from the surveillance of journalists to British military intelligence, despite major legal questions over the practice in the wake of a recent report.

The Crown police force admitted personal data held by it will be supplied to MI5 and others who request it if there is a “lawful policing purpose”, without further explanation.

The recent McCullough police review examined the surveillance of Irish and British citizens by the PSNI. It followed revelations that the PSNI and Metropolitan Police in London unlawfully spied on Belfast-based journalists Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney in order to identify their sources.

It emerged last month that the results of spying on prominent journalist Vincent Kearney had been supplied to British military intelligence.

The National Union of Journalists and Committee on the Administration of Justice have condemned the British strategy.

Six County Justice minister Naomi Long, of the Alliance Party, said the “actions of MI5 against journalists” is not within her remit but is the responsibility of the British Direct Ruler, Hilary Benn, but insisted that “freedom of expression is a core human right in the UK”.

Seamus Dooley of the National Union of Journalists said he had believed assurances by PSNI Chief Jon Boutcher that the sharing of journalists’ data had ended, and called for an MI5‑focused inquiry is necessary.

“If we are talking about cleaning up what has happened.. there’s no comfort in knowing that only one bit of the house is clean,” he said.

“We know from McCullough and we have concerns in relation to the behaviours of external forces, that their understanding of ‘lawful purpose’ is very broad and has not always been proven to be correct.

“I think we would have a concern about that.”

The Committee on the Administration of Justice, Amnesty and the NUJ have now all called for a public inquiry into MI5’s role in surveillance in the north of Ireland.

Recent months have heard of “spy novel” type scenarios where MI5 tried to recruit a bar owner as an informer. Conor McCallion, who runs O’Neill’s Traditional Irish Bar in Derry, said he was urged to meet an MI5 agent wearing a red hat at a train station as part of a bizarre bid to enlist him as a spy.

Saoradh has condemned the attempt to recruit Mr McCallion and other sinister approaches, as well as its spying on journalists. It described these as further evidence of the ‘dirty war” it has waged against northerners for decades, “targeting activists, intimidating families, infiltrating communities, and attempting to crush resistance by any means necessary”.

They also criticised Stormont politicians for their refusal to speak out.

“Those who truly oppose MI5 and British state repression cannot do so from the benches of Stormont, propping up British institutions and pretending outrage only when convenient,” they said.

“Genuine resistance requires honesty, consistency, and courage – qualities long abandoned by those now more interested in ministerial offices than defending the rights of their own people.”