Adams offers Sinn Féin policing summit

Sinn Féin could hold a special party conference on policing by next March if all its concerns were properly addressed, Gerry Adams said today.

Sinn Féin could hold a special party conference on policing by next March if all its concerns were properly addressed, Gerry Adams said today.

In a newspaper article, the Sinn Féin leader spelled out clearly his requirements if a party conference to consider endorsing the Police Service of Northern Ireland is to be held within the timetable envisaged in the St Andrews plan to restore power-sharing by next March.

A day after it emerged the PSNI had informed him of another death threat, Mr Adams said he needed a definite date for the transfer of policing and justice powers from Westminster to Stormont, agreement on the type of devolved government department which would handle them and MI5 to be excluded from any civic policing role.

He also offered to meet PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde and the Rev Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionists in a bid to break the political impasse.

Mr Adams stated: “I am committed to calling a meeting of the Sinn Féin ard chomhairle immediately when these issues are resolved.

“This ard chomhairle meeting will be for the purpose of convening a special ard fheis within the timeframe set out at St Andrews.

“However, let me be equally clear that I will not go to the ard chomhairle to seek a special ard fheis unless I have the basis to do so.

“In order to expedite these matters Sinn Féin will intensify our contact with the British government. We are prepared to meet with the PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde on issues which fall within his remit and we will sit down with the DUP and other parties at any time to agree other issues.

“I am determined to make clear to the widest cross section of national public opinion and especially unionist people that I am determined to see all these issues dealt with as quickly as possible and, as I have said, within the timeframe set out at St Andrews.

“If the two governments and the other parties are of the same mind then there is no reason why this cannot happen.”

The West Belfast MP, writing in the republican newspaper An Phoblacht, welcomed Mr Paisley’s signal last Friday that he would take up the post of Stormont First Minister and share power with Sinn Féin if all outstanding issues in the peace process were resolved and the electorate wanted him to.

Mr Adams said while he did not underestimate the challenge this presented to republicans and nationalists, he was also aware of the challenge it presented to Mr Paisley and the DUP.

However, he insisted all the obstacles to power sharing could be removed, including policing, if the political will was there.

The Sinn Féin president said his party wanted a new experience of policing.

Central to achieving that goal would be the ability of locally elected politicians to exercise power and accountability at a devolved government level.

It was unreasonable, he argued, to expect politicians to take responsibility for policing and justice and have no real authority over the issues.

“Local politicians would not agree to run the health service without authority over it,” the Sinn Féin leader argued. “Local politicians would expect to be able to question or challenge the Health Minister about decisions being taken by the health department.

“Policing and justice are vital, fundamental issues of concern for every citizen. The Assembly and Executive should have the same rights in respect of these matters as for health and education and environment and so on.”

He continued: “What is needed is a definitive timeframe, a date for the transfer of power and the departmental model into which power will be transferred. This isn’t rocket science. It is about parties taking straightforward and practical decisions.”

Mr Adams said it was unsustainable and bogus for senior DUP negotiators to argue the devolution of policing and justice powers could not be resolved for several political lifetimes because there was no trust.

None of the political parties trusted each other, he claimed.

Very few nationalists or republicans, he said, trusted the agencies of the North, including the police.

However Mr Adams acknowledged significant progress had been made in making the PSNI more accountable.

Nevertheless, he insisted the PSNI still had a lot to do to gain the confidence of nationalists.

“We need to take control of policing and justice away from London,” he argued. “The British government also needs to deal with a number of matters which remain under its control; principle among these is the role of MI5.

“There is no role for MI5 in civic policing. The PSNI cannot serve two masters. Neither can there ever again be a force within a force.”

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