8 November 2001 Edition
Unacceptable RUC/PSNI
The election of David Trimble as First Minister and Mark Durkan as Deputy First Minister may have been achieved in somewhat bizarre fashion, but the opportunity now exists for the institutions to operate as they were intended.
It is time to move on and to ensure that the Executive, the Assembly, the All-Ireland Ministerial Council and the All-Ireland bodies finally operate fully and fulfil their real potential.
It is also beyond time that the Good Friday Agreement was implemented in full.
One of the as yet unrealised provisions of that Agreement is its promise for a new beginning to policing, with a service both communities can trust.
We applaud the demise of the RUC, a body marked in the experience of nationalists as bigoted, sectarian thugs, but with typical underhandedness, the British government has conspired to change the RUC in name only.
The sectarian bigots who stood by and watched as Robert Hamill was kicked to death by a loyalist gang, the same bigots who engaged in shoot-to-kill operations, who colluded with loyalist death squads, down to those who couldn't hold a civil conversation with a 'fenian' - all these uniformed bigots woke up on Sunday morning still employed, only with a different badge to wear and a different sign on top of the barracks.
On Wednesday, the new Policing Board met for the first time. But it is not the Board set out in the Patten recommendations. It cannot hold the RUC Chief Constable and his force accountable on a range of vital matters.
What we need is a service that is accountable, free from partisan political control and representative of the community as a whole.
The SDLP may be happy with half a loaf, but the British government will have to do better if republicans are to accept the 'Police Service of Northern Ireland' as anything more than a slightly improved RUC.
It is time to move on and to ensure that the Executive, the Assembly, the All-Ireland Ministerial Council and the All-Ireland bodies finally operate fully and fulfil their real potential.
It is also beyond time that the Good Friday Agreement was implemented in full.
One of the as yet unrealised provisions of that Agreement is its promise for a new beginning to policing, with a service both communities can trust.
We applaud the demise of the RUC, a body marked in the experience of nationalists as bigoted, sectarian thugs, but with typical underhandedness, the British government has conspired to change the RUC in name only.
The sectarian bigots who stood by and watched as Robert Hamill was kicked to death by a loyalist gang, the same bigots who engaged in shoot-to-kill operations, who colluded with loyalist death squads, down to those who couldn't hold a civil conversation with a 'fenian' - all these uniformed bigots woke up on Sunday morning still employed, only with a different badge to wear and a different sign on top of the barracks.
On Wednesday, the new Policing Board met for the first time. But it is not the Board set out in the Patten recommendations. It cannot hold the RUC Chief Constable and his force accountable on a range of vital matters.
What we need is a service that is accountable, free from partisan political control and representative of the community as a whole.
The SDLP may be happy with half a loaf, but the British government will have to do better if republicans are to accept the 'Police Service of Northern Ireland' as anything more than a slightly improved RUC.