Govt urged to kickstart peace process

The British Government was today being urged to kickstart a round of talks with the Northern Ireland parties in a bid to revive the troubled peace process.

Junior Northern Ireland Office Minister Des Browne was holding the Government’s first face-to-face meeting with Sinn Fein since the release of its controversial policing plans

Yesterday the party’s national chairman Mitchel McLaughlin rounded on the NIO for ‘‘sitting on its hands’’ while the political institutions remained in crisis.

But he hoped today’s meeting would mark the beginning of an intensive period of dialogue to resolve the problems in the peace process.

Northern Ireland’s politicians have until September 23 to resolve their differences - the date when the Assembly must reconvene to vote for new First and Deputy First Ministers.

The political institutions were suspended by Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid for a day on August 10 when the Assembly was originally expected to vote.

The move bought the parties another six weeks to resolve their problems but was followed by the IRA’s withdrawal of its disarmament offer to the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning.

Since suspension, confidence in the peace process has been undermined by the arrests of three IRA suspects in Colombia on suspicion of training Marxist FARC rebels in the use of firearms and explosives.

It has also been rocked by a spate of loyalist bomb attacks, the shooting dead of two young men by the Red Hand Defenders and a question mark over the Ulster Defence Association’s ceasefire.

Republicans have also criticised the British and Irish Governments for claiming that the proposals on policing are ‘‘non-negotiable’’.

Sinn Fein has been left isolated on the issue of policing by the SDLP and the Northern Ireland Catholic Bishops who have expressed support for the new police service.

In the face of a Sinn Fein challenge to justify in a public debate its position on policing, the SDLP’s chairman Alex Attwood said yesterday his party would welcome any debate with any party in whatever format.

The SDLP was meeting the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission today as part of its ongoing series of discussions on policing.