SF support for police - Time for unionists to co-operate

The Sinn Féin decision to co-operate with and support the Police Service of Northern Ireland should be warmly welcomed as a monumental step in the ongoing peace process.

In a sense, it marks an end to old methods and it is another significant step in a new approach.

For decades Irish nationalists refused to recognise partition in the apparent belief it would somehow vanish. The Good Friday Agreement provided formal nationalist recognition of the rights of unionists, but some were understandably suspicious, because there always seemed to be some kind of republican caveat.