Provos settle for a role in the kind of government they could have had decades ago

NOW that the Provos have voted to recognise a British police force in the North, it raises some questions about what will happen in the future.

The PSNI is an anomaly as it is the only permanently armed police force in either Ireland or Britain. Why do they still need to be fully and permanently armed?

Why not have special armed units like the gardaí or police on the British mainland? This question was never raised during the debate about accepting a British police force in Ireland.