Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

Sinn Féin must now commit to supporting and playing an active role in the policing structures in the North. The 14th report of the policing Oversight Commissioner has again vindicated the stance of parties such as the SDLP, which took the brave decision to support the PSNI when republicans refused to do so. It is now clear that the overwhelming majority of the Nationalist community supports the PSNI but the void left by the attitude of republicans towards the police in places such as west Belfast and south County Armagh must no longer be filled by the local provo bully boy wielding his own type of community justice.

Sinn Féin has historically positioned itself at the heart of the problem. The opportunity now presents for Sinn Féin to become part of the solution but it will not dictate the content or timing of the solution. This will be a collective exercise and will be one to which that party is ill suited, as it will require patience, discretion, reasonableness and a desire to accommodate the needs and aspirations of others rather than an insistence on overwhelming and defeating those who it has always regarded as historic enemies of fellow nationals and inhabitants of our shared island. I support the Government amendment.

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