Ciaran McCauley
BBC News NI

It's only been in the last few moments that the members of the Policing Board, the organisation that holds the police in Northern Ireland to account, emerged into the bright September sunshine after this afternoon's emergency meeting.

It was the board's fourth meeting in as many weeks, after the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and its Chief Constable, Simon Byrne, were embroiled in a series of controversies.

Now Byrne has stepped down, but the PSNI is facing plenty of questions as it begins its search for a new chief.

That's all from our live coverage of today's events but you can keep across all the latest on BBC Newsline from 6.30pm and on the BBC News NI website.

Today's live coverage was written by Auryn Cox, Eimear Flanagan, Matt Fox, Emily McGarvey and Conor Neeson. Thanks again for joining us.

It's been another dramatic day for law and order in Northern Ireland.

Here's everything you need to know if you're catching up:

• Shortly after 3pm it was announced that the Police Service of Northern Ireland's Chief Constable Simon Byrne had quit
• The announcement was made by the chair of Northern Ireland's Policing Board after the oversight body had convened an emergency meeting
• It came after a number of recent controversies, including several data breaches and a High Court ruling that the disciplining of two junior officers was unlawful
• DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson says Byrne's resignation was "the right thing to do" and that his party will work towards policing that has "cross-community support"
• Sinn Féin justice spokesperson Gerry Kelly says the chief constable role is "often very challenging" and that he respected Byrne's decision

• The organisation that represents rank-and-file officers, the Police Federation, says morale in the PSNI has never been lower

Simon Byrne's resignation was "clearly the right decision", says former PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Stephen White - but he adds he feels "very sorry" for Mr Byrne and his family.

"Anyone who has a genuine interest in policing will be taking no pleasure or gloating at his demise or the circumstances," Mr White told the BBC's Evening Extra programme.

"Politics is always part of policing but there should be a clear line between the operational independence of the police, and in particular the chief constable, and those who either call them to account or lead political parties."

White says the PSNI's leadership had missed the chance to be "heroic" by standing up to political pressure after two officers made an arrest during a Troubles commemoration.

"I honestly think there were wasted opportunities for those at the top to say: 'Interfere with me and my decisions at your peril. I am answerable to the law, not to you.

'After the fact, you can hold me to account, but I am standing by my officers who are doing their best until proven otherwise'."

Image source, PA Media

Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson tells Evening Extra it's vital that all groups come together to restore confidence in policing here.

“I think it is important now that the Policing Board moves to appoint an interim chief constable... it is a matter for the Policing Board and for all of us who want to see effective and efficient policing which can achieve cross-community support."

He adds: “We had made our views known to the chief constable… I think the most crucial element of all of this was the loss of confidence among all of the personnel, the officers of the PSNI itself.

"I think that was crucial in influencing the decision of the chief constable."

Another key issue now is how the process of appointing a new chief constable will work.

Northern Ireland has been without a power-sharing government since the DUP withdrew in early 2022 as part of its protest over post-Brexit trading rules - but without a government, there is no justice minister to ratify an appointment of a new chief constable.

When asked about a possible return to Stormont, Sir Jeffrey replies: “Ultimately the secretary of state has the power to step in in place of a justice minister.”

Image source, PA Media

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood has also been speaking to Evening Extra - he says the recent PSNI controversies are linked to the "real issue" of the recruitment and retention of Catholic police officers, with many from that community put off by the recent data breaches.

Police officers in Northern Ireland face continued threat from dissident republicans, with Catholic staff members seen to be particularly at risk.

Many keep their job secret or go to extreme lengths to maintain their personal security and privacy.

• Read more: Why are police officers in Northern Ireland still under threat?

According to Mr Eastwood, only 26% of the officers in the PSNI today are Catholics born in Northern Ireland. He says it's a crisis "that has been coming since we got rid of 50-50 recruitment".

"If people from Catholic or nationalist community can’t see themselves reflected in the PSNI, they won’t join at all."

Up until 2011, the PSNI recruited equally from both Catholic and Protestant communities - that practice stopped over unionist objections that it was unfair and sectarian.

Image source, Pacemake

There was simply "no way back" for Chief Constable Simon Byrne after he was judged to have bowed to political pressure and "compromised the hallowed independence of the office of policing" - that's according to retired senior PSNI officer Jon Burrows.

Burrows was referring to last week's court ruling when a judge ruled that two officers had been disciplined unlawfully for making an arrest at a Troubles commemoration.

The judge said the officers had been punished to allay any threat of Sinn Féin abandoning its support for policing in Northern Ireland.

"Police officers can cope with many adversities, but when they think they have been treated grossly unfairly and unlawfully in order to placate politicians, it makes their job basically impossible," Mr Burrows tells the BBC's Evening Extra programme.

"So he lost that trust, but he unified Northern Ireland in a way no other chief constable has.

"He lost the trust of his organisation; he lost the trust of every staff association in the police service; and he lost the trust of all the politicians, and that was simply an untenable position."

Just catching up with today's news? Here's everything you need to know:

• Shortly after 3pm it was announced that Northern Ireland's top police officer, Simon Byrne, had quit
• The announcement was made by the chair of Northern Ireland's Policing Board after the oversight body had convened an emergency meeting
• In a statement, Byrne said it was "time for someone new"
• The former chief constable was under intense pressure after a number of recent controversies, including several data breaches and a High Court ruling that the disciplining of two junior officers was unlawful
• DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson says Byrne's resignation was "the right thing to do" and that his party will work towards policing that has "cross-community support"
• Sinn Féin justice spokesperson Gerry Kelly says the chief constable role is "often very challenging" and that he respected Byrne's decision
• The organisation that represents rank-and-file officers, the Police Federation, says morale in the PSNI has never been lower

Image source, PA Media

Ulster Unionist Party Leader Doug Beattie says that no one should "take pleasure" from today's events.

"[The] Chief Constable has done the right thing but this was never about just one man," he writes on social media.

Mr Beattie says a review into how the Policing Board operates is needed as well as "an independent inquiry into the actions on the day" that led to the two constables being unlawfully disciplined.

We're hearing from Northern Ireland's third biggest party, Alliance, now - Nuala McAllister, who represents the party on the Policing Board, says the issues facing the PSNI have not gone away with the chief constable's resignation.

"Alliance's concerns, both about this issue (Byrne's resignation) and wider management, do not begin and end with one individual.

"Confidence in the PSNI and, in particular, its senior leadership team is low in many quarters and unless these systemic challenges are met, a problematic future lies ahead for policing here."

She adds that the former chief "began many improvement processes across the PSNI, including outreach to ethnic minority and LGBTQ+ groups, which we need to see continued by whoever his successor is".

The chair of the Police Federation for Northern Ireland, Liam Kelly, says the chief constable’s position became "questionable and then untenable".

In recent days, the federation - which represents rank and file officers - had been heavily critical of Simon Byrne.

Kelly says Byrne's decision to appeal a High Court ruling, which found perceived political pressure had led to two junior officers being disciplined, was the "final straw".

"Mr Byrne has now done the right thing," he said.

"It is clear now that a full investigation is required into these matters to determine whether anyone else should be held to account for this fiasco for policing.

"This was an operational matter which should have been the exclusive responsibility of the Service, free from political or external pressure or, indeed, interference.

Image source, Pacemaker

Kelly says whoever succeeds Mr Byrne has a mountain to climb to rebuild confidence and restore the credibility of the PSNI.

He adds that, on a personal level, Byrne had been "approachable and courteous", and was an officer who had provided over 40 years service in policing.

But Byrne had also been left "frustrated from the outset by the failure of government to properly finance the PSNI and provide him with the tools and resources needed to do the job".

Image source, Getty Images

While unionist parties had called for Byrne to go in recent days, nationalist parties had not gone quite that far.

Now, however, Northern Ireland's second biggest nationalist party says confidence in the chief constable had been "irreparably shattered" following the recent controversies that hit the PSNI.

Colum Eastwood, leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), says Byrne's resignation was "the right thing to do".

However he says there are bigger issues for the PSNI, as well as an "erosion of confidence in the Policing Board", that must be addressed.

Eastwood says he'll be speaking to NI Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris about the scale of the challenges facing the PSNI and "the urgency of the response required from government, which must include a return to 50:50 recruitment".

Up until 2011, the PSNI recruited equally from both Catholic and Protestant communities in Northern Ireland.

The practice stopped when Catholic officers made up nearly 30% of the service, with feeling from unionists that 50:50 recruitment was unfair and sectarian.

Image source, PA Media

Traditional Unionist Voice leader Jim Allister does not mince his words.

“It’s an unrestrained ‘good riddance’ from TUV to the Sinn Féin puppet, Simon Byrne," Mr Allister says.

“He leaves behind a demoralised and politically compromised PSNI, making the top priority now its political decontamination.

"If it is to be a police service for all, then, it must be in the pocket of none - and that includes not just Sinn Féin but also the NIO and the ever meddling Dublin Government."

He also attacks the Policing Board, with its three Democratic Unionist Party members and one Ulster Unionist Party member coming in for especial criticism for reappointing "this failed chief constable" after the funeral of republican Bobby Storey went ahead during lockdown.

For more on the Bobby Storey funeral see here.

While other police organisations withdrew their support for Simon Byrne, one stood by him.

On Friday, the president of the National Black Police Association, Andy George, told BBC Radio Ulster's Evening Extra programme that getting rid of Simon Byrne would be a mistake and that the chief constable had the association's support.

Today that president, Andy George, says he still stands over his reasons for saying that and says he thinks Mr Byrne has "fallen on his sword for others".

If Mr Byrne is "scapegoated for this", he says, there is a "deep concern" that underlying issues will never be fixed.

Image source, Andy George

He says he will be asking for a full top-to-bottom culture review within the police service.

"There's a number of issues which Simon Byrne bravely tried to tackle which others have probably left to fester and which have never been dealt with since the inception of the PSNI," he says.

He tells Evening Extra he was talking to Mr Byrne over the weekend, and says the former chief constable was "reflective" and "looking at the bigger picture".

The Police Service of Northern Ireland's senior leadership team must now "rebuild confidence" among its staff and the public following the resignation of Chief Constable Simon Byrne, Sinn Féin's Gerry Kelly has said.

“The position of chief constable of the PSNI is a difficult and often very challenging role," Mr Kelly added.

"Simon Byrne has experienced those challenges over his tenure but particularly so over the last week.

"He has now decided to step down from the role of chief constable and I respect his decision to do so. I wish him and his family well for the future."

Mr Kelly added that the appointment of Mr Byrne's replacement was an "opportunity to refocus on the critical task of building a police service that serves and has the confidence of the entire community".

Image source, PA Media

Simon Byrne's resignation may have come today, but his four-year tenure has been marked by setbacks and controversy.

He was appointed in May 2019 with 36 years of policing behind him - but just months into the role he was criticised for suggesting the children of paramilitaries could be taken into care.

Later that year he had to apologise over a tweet of himself and other officers holding rifles outside a PSNI station in Crossmaglen.

In 2020 he was forced to apologise after an investigation found the PSNI's handling of Black Lives Matter protests was unfair and discriminatory.

There were calls for his resignation later that year after claims that large crowds broke lockdown rules to attend the funeral of Bobby Storey.

Read more here.

Enda McClafferty
BBC News NI political editor

Just months after securing a three-year extension to his contact, Simon Byrne is out of a job.

In the end he ran out of allies and was left with no option but to quit.

The prospect of losing a vote of confidence from the rank and file officers in the PSNI tipped the balance.

To avoid that humiliation, Simon Byrne spent the weekend planning his exit.

It is unclear as to whether he will receive any cash settlement after walking away from a £230,000-a-year job.

There is a “contractual” procedure which is now under way, according to Policing Board chair Deirdre Toner.

Questions also remain as to who now will take charge in the interim while successor is found.

The next in line, Deputy Chief Constable Mark Hamilton, has also been damaged by last week's court ruling.

He too faced calls from unionist parties to resign.

Given the many challenges the PSNI face, the board will want to move quickly to fill the new vacancy.

Analysis on the resignation of Simon Byrne can be heard over at Radio Ulster's drivetime programme, Evening Extra with presenters Claire Graham and Richard Morgan.

Journalists, politicians and representatives of the police will be weighing on the chief constable's departure throughout the show.

You can tune in to Evening Extra here.

Image source, PA Media

Politics is never far from policing in Northern Ireland - and in this case the unionist parties have been leading the calls for Simon Byrne to go.

On Friday, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) submitted a motion of no confidence in the chief constable to the Policing Board.

The Ulster Unionists and Traditional Unionist Voice had already called for Mr Byrne's resignation, while other political parties had also raised questions for the PSNI leadership.

Why?

It comes down to the row over a recent High Court judgment.

A judge found the police were "acutely aware of the threat of Sinn Féin withdrawing support for policing and/ or withdrawing from the Policing Board" depending on how the police service dealt with officers who had arrested participants in a Troubles-era commemoration during lockdown.

Sinn Féin have denied making any such threats.

But in Northern Ireland, politics, policing and the past are often intertwined - and perception can be paramount.

Image source, House of Commons

Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris has paid tribute to Simon Byrne, thanking him for his "many years of public service".

Mr Heaton-Harris spoke while responding to a question in the House of Commons on the PSNI data breach.

The secretary of state said he would liaise with the Policing Board while the process of appointing a successor continues.

He also indicated that if the power vacuum remains at Stormont, he will bring forward legislation to allow him to appoint a new chief constable.

Normally that would be a job for the power-sharing government.

But Northern Ireland's government has been out of action since early 2022, when the DUP withdrew as part of its protest against post-Brexit trading arrangements for Northern Ireland.