SF 'edging towards police backing'

Sinn Féin’s new official role in policing in the Republic of Ireland is another sign of the party’s intention to back Northern Ireland’s police, it was claimed today.

Former vice chairman of the North’s policing board, Denis Bradley, said the party’s decision to embrace new partnerships in the Republic was significant.

Sinn Féin today confirmed 17 of its elected representatives – including convicted gun runner Martin Ferris TD – have taken seats in embryonic joint policing committees throughout the Republic.

A former IRA prisoner, Mr Ferris drew fierce criticism in the past for his refusal to condemn the killers of Garda detective Jerry McCabe, shot dead by an IRA gang during a botched post office robbery in 1996.

Mr Bradley said Sinn Féin’s new role working alongside the Garda Siochana was another step towards the party signing up to the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

Republicans are coming under intense pressure to back the force in a crucial move which could secure power-sharing with Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionist Party.

“I think Sinn Féin are now finding their way and leading their followers into recognition of the policing realities,” said Mr Bradley.

“But also I think they are being led by their own people. The fact of the matter is, in both the North and the South, in all areas, people want decent policing.

“It is becoming so important in a modern society where the Church, education and politics have lost some of their authority. People long for some good and decency and policing plays a part in that,” he said.

The former Catholic priest, who was last year bludgeoned by a baseball bat while watching a football match in an attack blamed on dissident republicans, has been targeted several times for his key role in policing.

“Gerry Adams said the other day that we are moving through this process inch by inch. This is another inch,” he said.

In a statement today, Dublin Sinn Féin councillor Larry O’Toole, who was appointed vice-chair of the capital city’s policing partnership, reaffirmed the party’s commitment to the new structures.

“While we had hoped, and proposed in Leinster House, they would be more genuinely participative, we are committed to making them work for the people we represent,” he said.

“The policing committees could have a valuable role to play in building better working relationships between communities across the State and the Gardaí.

“If they are allowed to function in a real and meaningful way, with every effort made to maximise participation by local people through public meetings and surveys, they could allow for a direct input into policing priorities in local areas.”

The Dublin North East councillor, who has rallied against gangland crime after surviving a gun attack during a First Communion ceremony at a church in the city in 1998, had earlier said he was breaking new ground for the party.