Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

I was pleased to see Mr. Adams and Mr. Doherty here yesterday. It would be better, however, if they applied their time and effort to restoring the institutions and a relationship with the Unionist community in the North by forming the assembly and executive that are so necessary.

The amended wording proposed by the Government addressed clear gaps in the text of the motion proposed to the House by Sinn Féin. I was struck in particular by the absence of any reference in that motion to the Patten reforms and to the central importance of policing in a civil society. The amendment before the House calls on all parties to strengthen policing reforms and accountability by taking their places on the policing boards without delay. The extensive reforms to the Police Service in Northern Ireland that have been carried out in the past five years have brought the Patten vision of a human rights-based, community police force much closer to fruition.

The police reform programme in Northern Ireland is now regarded as a model of its kind internationally. The process of reform is being overseen and validated by an eminent Canadian police officer, Mr. Al Hutchinson, whose twice yearly reports as independent Oversight Commissioner have provided a detailed description of the pace and extent of the reforms to the PSNI. He has described the process under way as "unprecedented in the history of democratic policing reform", which is a significant statement.

In June this year, he found that 114 of the 175 Patten recommendations had been fully implemented. Complaints against the police have fallen by almost 20% in the period from 2001 to 2005. The historic problem of Nationalist under-representation is being progressively redressed, with more than a doubling in the proportion of Nationalists serving in the police force since 1999 and ongoing progress towards Nationalist numbers being fully reflective of the community as a whole. The establishment of district policing partnerships at local level has led to a new productive dialogue among local representatives, the police and civil society. These partnerships have not been without their difficulties, most notably thuggish intimidation from people who are locked in the past. For example, the members of Strabane DPP, to name but one, have experienced ongoing acts of intimidation. This negative mentality was most recently witnessed in Derry where the vice-chair of the policing board, Mr. Denis Bradley, was viciously attacked. The efforts of all those who prefer fundamentalist and negative doctrines to the more creative business of dialogue, arbitration and compromise want to bring this island back to the dark days, but they will not succeed.

The Oversight Commissioner has referred to the exemplary work being carried out by both the policing board and the Police Ombudsman. Both the policing board and the ombudsman have the full backing of the Government and, I am sure, of this House as they go about their hugely important work. The overall result of the combined work of the policing board, the ombudsman and the district policing partnerships is that, in the words of the Oversight Commissioner, the PSNI is now one of "the most overseen and accountable police agencies anywhere". However, the Oversight Commissioner has identified one major obstacle to the full introduction of the Patten report. He puts it starkly when he says that "politics has failed policing in Northern Ireland". This failure is twofold. On the one hand, there is a failure of political leadership on the Unionist side that saw the marching season degenerate into appalling violence in September 2005. On the other hand, there is the ongoing abdication of responsibility by Sinn Féin in its refusal to endorse the new police service and to work the institutions of Patten which were set up specifically to enable elected and community representatives to hold the police to account. I condemn its refusal to do so as it is essential to any peaceful and democratic society that police have the allegiance of all those who wish to be part of that democratic dispensation.

Local communities on the ground in Northern Ireland, whether affected by petty crime or more serious offences such as rape or assault and murder, want to see an end to fear as a driving force in society. Effective, accountable policing is the only way to achieve that and Sinn Féin has so far singularly failed to explain why it is not in a position to participate in the police boards. Its failure to do so has ill served the communities it represents. It has also ill served the wider political process. By withholding support for policing, Sinn Féin has undermined the process of building trust across the political spectrum and across the religious and political divide in Northern Ireland. For the sake of the communities it claims to represent and for the benefit of the wider political process it is time Sinn Féin endorsed the new beginning to policing which is now being rolled out and co-operate with the police service, and that its members take their rightful places on the policing boards and district policing partnerships.

A lot of guff has been spoken about a united Ireland. All the parties in this State subscribe to a republican philosophy and the ideal of a united Ireland. As James Connolly said, it is necessary to unite the peoples of Ireland. Ireland cannot be united by a piece of rhetoric but must be built at a practical level between peoples and institutions, and central to it is an acceptable police force throughout the island. Sinn Féin must rise to that challenge by participating in policing rather than delivering lectures in this House about a united Ireland.

See this speech in context