Sinn Féin to meet Policing Board

Sinn Féin representatives will today quiz the North's police commanders in public for the first time.

The party will come face to face with Chief Constable Hugh Orde's team of senior officers at an open meeting of the Policing Board in Belfast.

It is the first public session of the new-look, 19-member authority since Sinn Féin's historic decision to embrace the rule of law in the North.

Alex Maskey, Martina Anderson and Daithi McKay will represent the party on the board chaired by Desmond Rea.

However, an early row could be brewing after Ulster Unionist member Basil McCrea warned he plans to question Mr McKay's actions at a disputed loyalist march in his hometown of Ballymena, Co Antrim.

He has alleged the Sinn Féin man entered and breached a so-called sterile zone at the weekend parade in order to take notes.

Mr McCrea said: "Mr McKay sits on the Policing Board. As such he has certain responsibilities as well as certain rights.

"I will certainly be raising with the Board whether this action was appropriate."