20/09/2002

Sinn Fein Ard Fheis debates Policing Board stance

Sinn Fein's ruling council will assemble in Dundalk today to discuss the party's position regarding their policy on policing.

Members of Ard Fheis from across Ireland will congregate in the Republic's border town to debate whether republicans will take up seats on the District Policing Partnerships and the Policing Board.

The move has been widely interpreted as a U-turn by Sinn Fein, who stated only a few weeks ago that they would not sit on policing boards while the Patten proposals had not been implemented in full. While this is not yet the case, Sinn Fein have claimed that the British government will push through legislation to ensure that policing is fully compliant with Patten.

SDLP leader Mark Durkan said that he welcomed the "apparent runaround" by Gerry Adams on policing.

He added: "Gerry Adams says that he is willing to get his party on board for policing but wants to know what the new legislation will say first. Just a few weeks ago, Sinn Fein was saying that it had secured commitments from Tony Blair on new legislation. It is now clear that this was not true since Gerry Adams now says that he doesn't know what the legislation will contain."

The outcome of the Sinn Fein meeting will be known later today.

(GMcG)

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