President backs Patten

ON the last day of her visit to the US, the President, Mrs McAleese, said that she could not believe anyone would wish to jeopardise…

ON the last day of her visit to the US, the President, Mrs McAleese, said that she could not believe anyone would wish to jeopardise the type of community-wide police force for Northern Ireland which the Patten Commission had proposed, writes Joe Carroll.

Speaking in Philadelphia, the President said that, in spite of the latest difficulties, May 22nd should see "everything clicking into place - the Assembly, the Executive". She added that she was still confident that the Patten report would be the vehicle to drive forward police reform.