Sinn Féin 'dithering' endangering timetable, says DUP

Sinn Féin's dithering over support for the Police Service for Northern Ireland (PSNI) has led to the timetable for devolution becoming almost impossible to meet, it was claimed today.

As Sinn Féin leaders considered the outcome of the latest round of negotiations on policing, Democratic Unionist MP the Reverend William McCrea said that republicans had come up against a wall of resistance from his party.

The South Antrim MP said: "Let Sinn Féin/IRA crawl if they want, but we are not moving one inch on our determination to resist any ploy of Government to get republicans off the hook.

"I now am aware that the mighty Adams and McGuinness are so anxious to get over this present difficulty that they are willing to soften their demand to government, hoping they're gullible republican activists will not catch on.

"However we must be alert to the ploy of the Government and the Sinn Féin/IRA leadership and prove that for unionists there is a line drawn in the sand.

"I feel it is important to tell Government that policing is a major hurdle that republicans must deliver on but there are several other issues equally important that will test their sincerity."

Sinn Féin, DUP and Irish and British negotiators have been involved in an intensive round of talks to find a way through the impasse over policing before Christmas.

The purpose of the talks has been to persuade Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams to set in motion his party's process for changing policy on the PSNI.

The negotiations which have focused on the time frame for the transfer of policing and justice powers from Westminster to Stormont, were intensive and went into the night.

All eyes were on Sinn Féin today to see if Gerry Adams was prepared to call the meeting of his national executive which will require a two-thirds majority if it is to call a special party conference next month on policing.

Mr Adams has insisted that if he is to summon the Sinn Féin national executive he will need certainty about a time frame for the transfer to policing and justice powers.

However, the DUP has warned it can only give a date for the those powers being devolved once Sinn Féin has supported the police and proven it is cooperating and urging its community to work with PSNI officers on the ground.

Mr McCrea said that British prime minister Tony Blair and his Northern Secretary Peter Hain had to deliver confidence building measures for unionists if there was to be a deal.

"My leader and fellow party officers have all stated clearly that if there is no delivery, then there is no deal," he said.

"It is time this message sunk into the skulls of those in Government, and Sinn Féin/IRA better realise we have no desire to lower the standards of democracy to placate or appease them.

"If they want to be treated as democrats then it is up to them to come up to the democratic line and in my opinion they are far from it.

"The reality is that because of the dithering of Sinn Féin/IRA on the issue of policing and failure to deliver on the other major issues facing them, I feel that the timetable set by the Government is absolutely impossible to meet.

"The Shinners (Sinn Féin) have left it impossible to have a credible period of testing the so-called republican conversion to true democracy and Government must acknowledge and identify where the fault lies.

"We must not let Sinn Féin/IRA off the hook but string them up when necessary and demand an equivocal delivery."