Appeal to Government on policing partnerships

The vice-chairman of the Northern Ireland Policing Board has questioned the Irish Government's commitment to the success of District Policing Partnerships.

Against a background of intimidation of members of the partnerships, Mr Denis Bradley said he was appealing to the Government "that these are difficult days for people".

Mr Bradley, attending a conference on alcohol abuse in Dublin yesterday, told The Irish Times: "I have been critical of the Irish Government's role, of their presence, their physical presence in the North, at a very important period of time. I will continue to be appealing to them that these are difficult days for people."

The Government was "part of the encouraging voices and mechanisms and leadership that encouraged people to join the DPPs [District Policing Partnerships]. And I think they could have been more present to people in the last couple of weeks.

"I haven't seen an Irish Minister in the North for quite some time. I sometimes wonder does the old republican party, that's Fianna Fáil, fully understand how emotionally committed the Northern nationalists are to their presence."

Mr Bradley was the victim of intimidation in August when he received three bullets attached to a Mass card. There have been a number of resignations from DPPs recently as a result of individual intimidation, while the "Real IRA" issued a blanket threat against all DPP members last month.

Mr Bradley said he had attempted to talk with those behind the intimidation to no avail, and called on the Governments to negotiate. "I would like the Governments to negotiate with them, to spell out the realities and include them in part of the closure of the violence."

It looked, he said, as though elections to the Assembly would go ahead in November.

"I think the institutions have a fair success of getting up and running again. There is a new mentality in Northern Ireland among the extremes of unionism and nationalism that says we don't have really any other place to go and we have to make this deal stick. I do feel a deep acknowledgement of reality; that this is it.

"The "Real IRA" or whoever they may be need to take that into account, because if this deal is made and Sinn Féin join the policing board and the police become a non-issue for the broader community, where do they go with their protests?"

Although there had been some resignations from the DPPs, Mr Bradley said intimidation had steeled members' determination to make the partnerships a success. "I think the people in the west, particularly in Strabane and Fermanagh, have shown incredible resolve to keep this going."

He said their stance was not just about policing. "It's about a new future. It's about a different place, about a different dispensation for their lives and the lives of their children."

He said it would be wrong, however, to see resolution of the policing issue as the issue that would solve all problems. "Policing, whether it succeeds or not in the short-term, is not at the core of what is going on politically in Northern Ireland. It is a contributing factor, it's a tone-setter, it's a removal of a thorn from the lion's paw, but it's not in itself the lion."