Unionists demand policing chief's resignation

A Northern Ireland policing chief provoked uproar today after warning that hard-won Catholic support for the force may end unless the political deadlock is broken.

Unionists demanded Denis Bradley’s resignation for claiming painstaking reforms to the service were in peril because a new peace deal had yet to be struck.

With Prime Minister Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern trying to get all sides in Belfast to reach a settlement that would restore devolution, Mr Bradley insisted a breakthrough was needed within a fortnight.

Otherwise, nationalist officers who signed up as part of a major overhaul to the overwhelmingly Protestant force may have second thoughts, the Northern Ireland Policing Board vice chairman cautioned.

Catholics sitting on the district partnerships which hold chief constable Hugh Orde’s men and women to account could also withdraw, he added.

He said: “The broad nationalist consensus will find it very difficult, in my opinion, to live under direct rule.

“Some of these people who have taken the burden over the past two years, who have been abused verbally by Sinn Féin, and attacked by others, have a right to their concerns.

“I wonder, will they continue to take the strain and should they take the strain?”

If unionists and republicans cannot strike a deal that would revive the Stormont power-sharing arrangements, direct rule should be replaced by a form of joint authority from London and Dublin, Mr Bradley argued.

The former priest, who helped broker talks between the IRA and British government during the early days of the peace process, has been an influential figure in the ongoing attempts to transform policing in Ulster.

With Sinn Féin still refusing to endorse the service, his relationship with republicans in his native Derry has grown increasingly fraught.

Incensed unionists launched an all-out assault on him following his latest analysis, claiming he was trying to force them into a political settlement.

The DUP’s Ian Paisley Jr, who sits on the Policing Board alongside Mr Bradley, claimed he should be removed from the authority.

“The disgraceful comments are a licence to dissident republicans to attack and kill police officers,” the North Antrim MLA said.

“He ought to either retract these words or else he should have the decency to resign from the Police Board.

“Dennis Bradley is attempting to go native with republicans. He has deliberately created a situation where now his support for the police is conditional upon republicans getting their own way.

“I have asked the Secretary of State to consider Bradley’s comments and determine in light of them if he is fit to remain on the Police Board.”

Mr Paisley’s party colleague, senior DUP negotiator Nigel Dodds, was equally scathing.

The North Belfast MP said: “It is not Dennis Bradley’s job to be making any comment whatsoever on the status of the political process in Northern Ireland.

“We have heard for years how politics and policing should be separate. Dennis Bradley ought to heed that advice.”