There was cold fury in Government and SDLP circles last night after the British government unilaterally ended discussion and confirmed the membership of the Independent Commission on Policing in Northern Ireland.
While pledging his full co-operation with the commission, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, confirmed his disappointment that only one of 10 candidates originally nominated by the Government had made it, and then only as a last-minute concession, on to the final list announced yesterday by the Northern Ireland Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam.
Dr Gerald Lynch, president of the John Jay College, New York, was added to the original list of six commissioners to sit under the chairmanship of Mr Chris Patten, the former British governor of Hong Kong, only after strenuous Irish objections that the composition proposed by London did not reflect the necessary overall political balance.
However The Irish Times understands that Dr Lynch, one of the 10 originally suggested by Dublin at the beginning of May, was confirmed only after London had rejected the Government's two preferred candidates. While sources refused to disclose names, it is understood these were both women, one a senior South African police officer, the other a prominent civil rights lawyer in the North.
It appears the Government did not seek to replace any of those named by Dr Mowlam yesterday but rather, on seeing the British proposal, argued for an additional two appointments to be drawn from the original Irish list.
This was discussed between the Office of the Taoiseach and 10 Downing Street last week; between Mr Ahern and the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, on Monday night in Dublin; and at a meeting of the liaison group of British and Irish officials in Dublin on Tuesday.
Where the discussion was thought early yesterday morning to be "ongoing", there was subsequent Irish surprise to discover that Dr Mowlam's statement was imminent. This compounded the irritation caused by Dr Mowlam on Tuesday when she pre-emptively named five of those under consideration in comments to the Northern Ireland Police Federation conference. It remained unclear last night at precisely what point the Government was formally advised of the terms of Dr Mowlam's announcement.
In addition to Dr Lynch, the Northern Ireland Secretary confirmed that Mr Patten would be joined by Sir John Smith, a former deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police; Ms Kathleen O'Toole, previously of the Boston Police Department, now Secretary for Public Safety in Massachusetts; Mr Peter Smith, senior member of the Northern Ireland Bar and a former officer of the Ulster Unionist Council; Dr Maurice Hayes, former Northern Ireland ombudsman and previously one of the most high-ranking Catholics in the Northern Ire land Civil Service; Prof Clifford Shearing, director of the Centre of Criminology at the University of Toronto, an expert on policing in Australia, Canada and his native South Africa; and Ms Lucy Woods, the chief executive of British Telecom in Northern Ireland.
The London-Dublin tensions were reflected in the response of the Ulster Unionists and the SDLP to the announcement. Mr Ken Maginnis, the UUP's security spokesman, said: "I think, practically, we couldn't have hoped for anything better." However, Mr Seamus Mallon, the deputy SDLP leader, said: "The SDLP notes the appointment of the members of the commission. We hope they all realise how serious an issue this is and how fundamental to the success of the Belfast Agreement."
Expecting that the commissioners would conduct their inquiry impartially, Mr Mallon said: "It is essential they ensure that their final report is reached independently and that that independence is guarded jealously."
Maol Muire Tynan adds: In the Dail yesterday Mr Ahern did no thing to deflect Government concerns over the composition of the commission. "I would have liked if at least one other nominee, along with Dr Ger Lynch, had been accepted, but that was the call of the British government," he said.
He was pleased when he heard Mr Patten had agreed to become chairman. He was a senior political figure and "has a relatively fair and balanced track record in regard to Northern Ireland".
At a conference in Palermo, Sicily, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, did not refer to the composition of the commission but stressed the key role the body would play in bringing forward recommendations on future policing arrangements in Northern Ireland.