A senior SDLP politician has urged Sinn Féin to moderate its position on policing as the DUP reiterated at the weekend that it would not agree an advanced timetable for devolving policing and justice to a restored Executive.
Deputy SDLP leader Dr Alasdair McDonnell yesterday said Sinn Féin's position that it could not call a special ardfheis on policing until it had a timeframe for the transfer of policing and justice powers was largely a "smokescreen".
"As it stands about 80 per cent of the policing and justice agenda is already devolved to the Policing Board while other elements of the justice and equality agenda are devolved to the Office of First Minister and Deputy First Minister," he said yesterday.
If Sinn Féin endorsed the PSNI it would be entitled to have members on the Policing Board whose remit is to oversee the delivery of an "effective, efficient, accountable and impartial police service which will secure the confidence of the whole community".
He accused Sinn Féin of waging a false battle on the issue and said its current stance on policing was the single biggest obstacle to the restoration of full devolution.
"Much of the power Sinn Féin is seeking is already there. So the continuing demands for the devolution of justice and policing is largely a smokescreen to avoid facing up to their responsibility to support law and order," he added.
Dr McDonnell said if Sinn Féin took the initiative on policing, actual devolution of policing and justice to the Executive "would come fairly quickly".
DUP justice spokesman Ian Paisley jnr insisted again yesterday that Sinn Féin would not get a date from his party for the devolution of justice and policing.
As some DUP politicians also seek to push back the St Andrews Agreement deadline of March 26th for restoring devolution, Mr Paisley jnr said the DUP was not concerned about the power-sharing deadline or dates for devolving policing.
It was up to Sinn Féin to establish its fitness for government, he said. "It's not about us giving them a date, it's about them convincing people they are fit to measure up to government," Mr Paisley told BBC Northern Ireland's Inside Politics programme.
The Northern Assembly meets this morning to discuss a motion from Ulster Unionist Party leader Sir Reg Empey deploring the "interference" of Northern Secretary Peter Hain in last Friday week's confused attempt to deem Dr Paisley and Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness as prospective First Minister and Deputy First Minister, respectively.
