Haass and Adams 'agree to disagree' on policing

After an hour-long meeting with Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams at Stormont, Ambassador Haass repeated his view that republicans would be in a better position to influence policing reform from the inside.

‘‘I thought, perhaps as an American, the best way to influence political institutions tends to be from within the inside. It’s a way of exerting your influence.

‘‘We essentially in that case agreed to disagree. I respect his position, I think he respects mine. I’m hoping that ultimately Sinn Fein will see its way to appointing to the police board,

Mr Haass said that with more Catholics joining the police board, he believed it would evolve over time.

‘‘This was not something cast in cement. It had the potential to change like any other institutions in any other society,’’ he added.

The special envoy denied that relations with the US administration and Sinn Fein had become cooler over Mr Adams’s recent trip to Cuba or his refusal to sign up to policing.

He indicated the two men were in regular contact by phone and would meet up again in a few weeks time when the Sinn Fein president visited New York.

Speaking after the meeting Mr Adams insisted that Sinn Fein’s position on refusing to join the board was the right one.

‘‘I put it to the ambassador that the US did have a role to play in trying to create a policing board that people could have some confidence in,’’ he said.

Mr Adams said the fact that the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party, which has signed up to the board, had to meet the Security Minister Jane Kennedy to express a lack of confidence in police handling of the loyalist campaign of violence, showed its lack of powers.

‘‘What the British need to do is return democratic control to a policing board.’’

He added he was not surprised the US administration was keen to see Sinn Fein endorse policing, given the position of the SDLP and the Irish Government.

‘‘The British government haven’t got the policing issue right. They know that. The US administration’s position is no surprise, given what is happening domestically here in Ireland on that issue.’’

Mr Haass also held a round of meetings with other political parties including the SDLP, which has two members on the new board .

Party leader and Stormont Deputy First Minister Mark Durkan described his meeting with Mr Haass as very useful and urged republicans to take their seats.

‘‘We have been trying to encourage Sinn Fein to take a more responsible and positively active approach in relation to policing, not because there aren’t problems in relation to policing but because there are problems.

‘‘We don’t think it’s good enough to simply say we’re not fully satisfied with everything and we are leaving it to the British government before we do anything.

‘‘We want to play our part in delivering the new beginning. That’s why we are on the policing board. That’s why we want to add to the accountability mechanisms that have already started to demonstrate themselves with the Ombudsman’s Report,’’ he added.

David Ervine of the Progressive Unionist Party, which has links with the Ulster Volunteer Force, said he discussed with the ambassador the ongoing problems within loyalism and the perception that Northern Ireland has become a ‘‘cold house’’ for unionists.

‘‘I think certainly he is of a mind that perhaps our leadership isn’t all that it should be. I think he has a point.

‘‘We have failed miserably to implement the Good Friday Agreement. We have refused to talk to each other at times of no crisis and only taken the opportunity when there is a crisis,’’ he added.

After Mr Haass left Stormont he travelled on to a meeting with the head of the decommissioning body, General John de Chastelain.