Sinn Féin looks set to back PSNI at ardfheis

Sinn Féin members appear on track to endorse the Police Service of Northern Ireland at an extraordinary ardfheis in Dublin tomorrow after one of the most intensive consultation exercises with the republican base ever conducted by the party leadership.

Up to 3,300 Sinn Féin members are expected to gather in the RDS tomorrow with about 900 of them mandated to vote on the leadership motion calling for endorsement of the PSNI - which would be a historic move designed to pave the way to powersharing government with the DUP, the Ulster Unionist Party and the SDLP by March.

Based on the general responses to over 100 private and public meetings Sinn Féin leaders held with party members, including IRA members, in the past two weeks they believe that the motion, which has conditional elements, will be passed tomorrow.

The motion leaves it to the ardchomhairle to implement support for the police based on the DUP sharing power and agreeing to the transfer of policing powers to the Northern executive by May next year.

What will be crucial to Sinn Féin maintaining its unity and cohesion is that party president Gerry Adams carries the ardfheis with a sizeable majority, probably of 75 per cent or more, and that no influential party personnel walk out of the ardfheis.

In Belfast yesterday Mr Adams refused to predict by what margin the ardfheis would vote. He described the intensive consultation as invigorating for the party and added: "I don't have a figure in mind, and I go forward in hope that we will get the ardfheis behind us."

"But one thing I am very confident about is that whatever the vote of the ardfheis Sinn Féin will remain united and will face into the next phase of the struggle in a very positive mood," he said.

Sinn Féin cumainn were last night finally deciding how their delegates should vote. The cumainn account for over more than of the votes with comhairle ceanntair, the ruling ardchomhairle and Ógra Sinn Féin (which opposes the motion and has about 35 votes) mainly making up the rest of the votes.

Voting delegates come roughly half from Northern Ireland and half from the Republic.

As these delegates made up their minds Sinn Féin said its central objective was to secure a "proper" police service that was fully accountable. The party also argued that it had achieved "profound changes" in relation to "democratic accountability, human rights protections and the ending of political and repressive policing".

Mr Adams yesterday also urged support for the leadership motion through a special pamphlet distributed with the Belfast Telegraph, Irish News and Andersonstown News. He said Sinn Féin was committed to delivering "fair, impartial and effective" policing.

"We are committed to Irish unity. We support civic policing through a police service, which is representative of the community it serves, free from partisan political control and democratically accountable," said Mr Adams.

He acknowledged republican concerns triggered by the Police Ombudsman's report on RUC special branch collusion with the UVF in north Belfast. "This has to be stopped," he said. "What we don't support and what we will never allow to happen again is repressive, sectarian and political policing."

Republican Sinn Féin said it would picket the ardfheis while the Continuity IRA, to which it is aligned, rejected appeals from Mr Adams to engage in talks.