Nationalists focus on law and order

Rival nationalist parties in Northern Ireland are due to focus on the issue of law and order today, with seven days left until the Stormont Assembly election.

Sinn Féin and the SDLP are due to concentrate on the issues of crime and policing while unionists continued to pore over their divisions over the Good Friday Agreement.

The SDLP has taken part in policing structures in Northern Ireland and has urged the nationalist community to join the police.

Sinn Féin, however, has argued that police reforms ushered in by the British government fail to live up to what was promised in the Good Friday Agreement and nationalist expectations.

They have so far refused to take their seats on the Policing Board or participate in District Policing Partnerships.

The SDLP has served on the boards but have in recent months seen several members targeted by republicans, with the majority of threats coming from dissident groups.

During the election campaign Mark Durkan’s SDLP had argued that his party’s participation in policing structures has helped advance police reforms in the North.

In its manifesto the SDLP pledged itself to work for local policing strategies which reflected the needs of communities, delivering more officers on the beat, faster response times, improved clear up rates and dedicated crime units in areas of acute need.

The SDLP also vowed to ensure that every police district had a strategy to deal with sectarian crime and the protection of vulnerable groups including the elderly.

The party also pledged to protect the 50/50 recruitment quota for Catholics and Protestants joining the police and to seek additional funds for the Police Ombudsman.

Mark Durkan’s party also said it would seek the transfer of policing and justice powers from Westminster to one department at Stormont.

Sinn Féin, in its manifesto released on Monday, claimed it had secured a number of guarantees from the British government in recent negotiations which would boost the prospects of their community endorsing the police service.

These included a commitment from the government that policing and justice powers would be transferred to Stormont, guarantees on the role and power of Special Branch, assurances about the Belfast sub groups being placed on a par with District Policing Partnerships.

Sinn Féin committed itself to securing the creation of an unarmed police service, the end to the use of repressive legislation, the development of community-based policing and support for community restore to justice schemes.

Both the SDLP and Sinn Féin have also called for the banning of plastic bullets and for effective inquiries into allegations of security force collusion in loyalist killings including the murders of solicitors Pat Finucane and Rosemary Nelson.

Policing has been a key battleground between the two parties in the contest for nationalist votes, with the SDLP accusing Sinn Féin of handing their two seats on the Policing Board to unionists and of advocating their responsibilities.

Former members of the Ulster Unionist Party were today due to launch an attack on ex-colleagues following yesterday’s slanging match between the Rev. Ian Paisley and David Trimble.

Democratic Unionist candidates such as Peter Weir in North Down were due to pose a series of questions to anti Good Friday Agreement assembly candidates who yesterday produced their own commitments for after the election.

The DUP insisted the questions should be asked by voters.