Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams is to take time over the weekend to consider whether he will press ahead with a party ardfheis on policing. The British prime minister Tony Blair intervened yesterday to try to avert the collapse of the political process in the North, writes Gerry Moriarty, Northern Editor.
Mr Blair made it clear to both Mr Adams and the DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, that he will abandon plans to hold Assembly elections in March if the policing deadlock is not quickly broken, which in turn would rule out any prospect of a return to devolution by the scheduled date of March 26th.
Mr Blair put forward a form of ultimatum to Dr Paisley and Mr Adams yesterday, amid conflicting signals from the DUP on whether it would accept the transfer of policing powers to a reinstated Northern Executive, a key demand of Sinn Féin to support policing.
The prime minister issued a statement saying his understanding was that Sinn Féin would properly sign up to policing and that the DUP would accept the devolution of policing powers by May 2008, as envisaged in the St Andrews Agreement. "I need both leaders to agree to this understanding," he insisted.
"Mr Blair does accurately summarise the core of the motion that I would put to an ardfheis," Mr Adams told The Irish Times.
Dr Paisley in a statement welcomed "the prime minister's assessment" and added that the DUP was "willing to make progress on a level playing field when there is full support for and co-operation with the police". Dr Paisley did not specifically say in the statement that he accepted the transfer of policing powers by May next year and insisted that "upfront delivery is required from Sinn Féin on the issue of support" for the PSNI, the courts and the rule of law.
Downing Street and the Northern Ireland Office assessed Dr Paisley's statement positively. "He has welcomed the prime minister's assessment and what you can't do is cherry-pick the prime minister's assessment. If there is delivery in terms of policing then there can be agreement to devolve policing," said a senior London talks source.
He added that Mr Blair's position would not change. "What the prime minister offers is a sensible way forward," he said.
A spokeswoman for Taoiseach Bertie Ahern also responded positively, if more cautiously. "We note that both parties have welcomed the prime minister's assessment. This is progress."
However, four DUP MPs, Nigel Dodds, Gregory Campbell, the Rev William McCrea and David Simpson, MEP Jim Allister and party chairman Lord Morrow of Clogher Valley issued hard-hitting statements insisting there was no agreement on transferring policing powers. Mr Dodds said his party would not agree a date for the transfer of policing powers. "The DUP has made it clear consistently that there will be no timetable for the devolution of policing and justice powers agreed by us," he said.
It appeared significant that these statements, most of which did not emanate from party headquarters, were last night countered by more positive but carefully crafted statements issued through head office from MPs Jeffrey Donaldson, Sammy Wilson and Iris Robinson and Assembly members Thomas Buchanan and Paul Girvan which followed on similar careful comments from deputy leader and MP Peter Robinson.
Mr Wilson said the DUP recognised "the value of having powers devolved to Northern Ireland" while Mr Donaldson, echoing a New Year's Day statement by Dr Paisley, implicitly criticised DUP hardliners by stating, "Let no words discourage" Sinn Féin from moving on policing.
Mr Adams, who now faces a crucial personal call on whether to proceed with the ardfheis, expressed concern about the dissident DUP statements but said he accepted that Dr Paisley did want to share power with Sinn Féin. He said party officers would consider the situation next Tuesday and indicated that a further ardchomhairle to clarify whether the ardfheis would now take place would be held sometime thereafter. "Last week's ardchomhairle motion is predicated upon a positive response from the DUP. So let's just travel forward in hope and travel positively . . . Let's look at this in the round, and let me take the weekend to judge where it's at and to see if we can move forward again," he said.