At a five hour meeting in Dublin last Saturday, 13 January, Sinn Féin's Ard Chomhairle backed a proposal to convene an Extraordinary Ard Fheis on policing on 28 January. Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams said that Irish republicans and nationalists wanted, needed and deserved proper and accountable policing. Free article

Last Friday Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams revealed that in the run up to the meeting of the Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle on 29 December the DUP was given the text of the motion he was putting to the Ard Chomhairle calling a special Ard Fheis on policing. Free article

Below we reprint an excerpt from an article published in this week's Village Magazine in which Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams again calls for the release of the republican prisoners held in Castlerea jail. In Village Adams describes how the Irish Government recently used the emotive issue of these prisoners to avoid explaining their absence from recent political talks. Because the government raised the issue Adams says he feels it is time to set the record straight, emphasising that he does so in the knowledge of the great grief suffered by the McCabe family and particularly by Mrs. McCabe and expresses his deep sorrow for her loss. The full article by Gerry Adams can be read in Village Magazine Free article

Campaign and support groups have welcomed a commitment by PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde not to use plastic bullets for the purposes of public order or crowd control. Although Orde's comments fell short of an all out ban, campaigners view it as a significant development. The PSNI Chief said deployment of plastic bullets would be restricted in line with rules that currently apply in England and Wales. Free article

In Belfast on Tuesday, Sinn Féin National Chairperson Mary Lou McDonald, Councillor Caral Ní Chuilin and Conor Murphy MP announced details of the public meetings in advance of the Ard Fheis on Policing. Free article

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams has revealed that the Police Ombudsman's office has informed him that an 'initial investigating officer' has been appointed to investigate information relating to an assassination attempt on his life in 1984 and the role played by the RUC Special Branch. Free article