The president of Sinn Fein has said he is sceptical of reports in The Irish Times that the Patten Commission on Policing in the North had prepared a draft report which advocated the effective disbanding of the RUC.
Mr Gerry Adams said yesterday he suspected the story had come from "security elements" and represented "the people that don't want the change" putting up obstacles. He said the nationalist community in west Belfast had been "ravaged" by the RUC in the past and the force's former policing role was "finished".
At the opening of the Sean O'Neill Craft Store off the Falls Road, Mr Adams also commented on the controversy surrounding the decision taken by local soccer club Donegal Celtic to pull out of last weekend's fixture with the RUC.
Mr Adams said he disregarded all allegations of the intimidation of club members to reverse their earlier decision to play the match.
"This business of the club changing its mind was not a result of intimidation but was a result of people just realising the type of decision that they had taken and then this becomes a useful coverall. People who allege intimidation need to make it stand up," he said.