Ahern defends Minister's role

Government policy on policing in the North is very clear, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has insisted in the Dáil. "We want to see policing in Northern Ireland work and people involved in and committed to this."

Mr Ahern was responding to Labour leader Pat Rabbitte, who claimed Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern had, in an interview, effectively sent Sinn Féin a message that "it could now kick into the middle distance the issue of subscribing to policing and taking its positions on the [ policing] boards".

Mr Rabbitte said it was "the settled expectation on all sides that some movement from Sinn Féin could be anticipated before the executive would be reinstated". However, he said that "bizarre remarks" were attributed to the Minister that "the policing issue is not a precondition for the November deal".

The Taoiseach said that, "Sinn Féin has always said it would not sign up until it saw the legislation and proposals. In fairness to Sinn Féin, although it is not for me to argue its case, but to answer the questions, it has made clear for the past few years that it would be prepared to have a special ardfheis to deal with the issue of policing and to see the issues around policing clarified on the clear understanding that it would see the legislation and the date for devolution of policing."

The Labour leader claimed the Minister for Foreign Affairs "went on to dismiss the anti-criminality campaign of the Minister for Justice as being merely politicking in the South", in an interview in The Irish Times yesterday.

Mr Rabbitte claimed that as a result of the interview, "there is less prospect of the executive being reinstated because the signal is clear to the DUP that the Irish Government, at least, no longer requires movement on this critical issue to have the executive reinstated".

The Taoiseach pointed out, however, that "the DUP's stated position is that policing should not be devolved for a considerable number of years, which is not compatible with the positions of the two governments".

Mr Ahern added that, while he did not read the interview, "I have always been at one with the Ministers for Justice and Foreign Affairs on the issue of criminality. Nobody has been tougher on this issue and on Border activity than the Minister for Foreign Affairs, not only in his present position but in his political life for the past 20 years."

Mr Rabbitte said: "I never cease to be amazed at the interviews the Taoiseach reads and the ones he never notices".

The Labour Party leader asked, "has the Government changed the consistent and settled expectation that there would be movement on this critical issue to facilitate the reinstatement of the executive. Is that no longer the position? Does the Government generally regard Deputy McDowell as being off on a frolic of his own in his various utterances about Sinn Féin? Is subscribing to policing in Northern Ireland and participation in the policing boards some requirement of the November deal?"

The Taoiseach replied that, "not having read the article, I cannot tell whether the deputy is taking this out of context but it is certainly out of context of what the Minister has often said at meetings and in this House. How that is interpreted in an article I cannot say until I have read it."

It had been the Government's position that "proper policing is needed to get away from vigilante activities and criminality in the North and to deal with the rising drugs problem".

Sinn Féin and the public knew the Government's position.

"We would like to see them sign up to policing at the earliest possible date," he said.