Northern Secretary Peter Hain faces another politically divisive problem, including a potential unionist boycott, as he decides who should be appointed to the next Policing Board for Northern Ireland in four weeks.
Unionist politicians have said they will not accept any deviation from the appointments system used to form the first board in November 2001 under the chair and vice-chairmanship of Prof Sir Desmond Rea and Denis Bradley, who, while independent members, were seen respectively to reflect the unionist and nationalist traditions.
At present there are 10 political and nine independent members on the board. The political members were appointed using the same D'Hondt mechanism employed to form the first Northern Executive based on the results of the 1998 Assembly elections.
In the first Executive the Ulster Unionist Party and the SDLP had three ministries each while Sinn Féin and the DUP had two each. But as Sinn Féin boycotted the board the political seats, again using the D'Hondt system of the proportional allocation of posts, were divided four for the UUP and three each for the DUP and SDLP.
The incoming board will be appointed based on the 2003 Assembly elections results, where the DUP and Sinn Féin surpassed the UUP and SDLP as the main unionist and nationalist parties.
If Sinn Féin joined the board the political membership would be four seats for the DUP and two each for Sinn Féin, the SDLP and the UUP. But Sinn Féin made clear at its recent ardfheis it would only join the board based on the agreement of a special ardfheis. So, according to an expert in the complex mathematical D'Hondt system, with Sinn Féin excluding itself, five seats would go to the DUP, three to the UUP and two to the SDLP.
Mr Hain is understood to be considering a number of options for a new board on April 1st that would better reflect unionist/natinalist breakdown in the Northern population. One option could involve altering the appointments system so that instead of the political seats dividing eight for unionists and two for nationalists, Sinn Féin seats would go to independent members deemed from the nationalist/republican tradition. This would mean 11 independent appointees instead of nine, and eight political appointees instead of 10.
But DUP board member Ian Paisley junior has warned Mr Hain that his party will not accept "any sleight of hand" that would change the system. The UUP has gone further by insisting that if the number of independents is increased it will boycott the board. "If he changes the system we'll walk," said UUP board member Fred Cobain.
The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) said Mr Hain had not yet decided on appointments. This week he invited the DUP, Sinn Féin, the UUP and the SDLP to nominate political members. While the deadline for a response is the middle of next week, Sinn Féin has made clear it will not be participating, at this stage at least.
NIO spokespeople refused to be drawn on what Mr Hain might do when Sinn Féin says no to its seats. "Our job is to create a board that reflects the community it serves," said a senior NIO source who knows that whatever the Northern Secretary decides he will have more political trouble on his hands.
