Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams denied last night that the party leadership's attitude to policing was determined by outside pressure rather than conviction. "We are doing it because we think we are right," he told an audience of 300 at the Slieve Russell Hotel near Ballyconnell, Co Cavan.
In the latest of Sinn Féin's series of meetings to discuss its proposed new policy on the Police Service of Northern Ireland, questions were raised from the floor as to whether there was any real difference between the PSNI and its predecessor, the Royal Ulster Constabulary, and about the strategic benefits of the stance Mr Adams and other Sinn Féin leaders have taken on the policing issue.
Although Mr Adams and party colleagues Gerry Kelly, Bairbre de Brúand Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin received a generally friendly reception, speakers from the floor voiced unease about the proposed move to get involved in the governance of the PSNI. Referring to the B-Specials, the RUC and the PSNI, one speaker said: "There's no difference." Addressing the platform group, he said, "You'se live at the coalface. Can you tell me honestly if anything has changed in policing?"
Another speaker, James O'Connor, compared the position of the Sinn Féin leadership with the dilemma faced by Michael Collins in the Treaty negotiations which led to a split in republicanism. "You are faced with a decision now that Michael Collins was faced with," he said.
Mr Adams rejected the comparison with the situation facing Michael Collins. "I don't think there are any parallels," he said. Instead of being divided, "the republican people of the island" were coming together.
Another member of the audience said he had "just one concern" and that was whether the Sinn Féin leadership was contemplating this latest move "because of pressure or because they genuinely believe it's the right thing to do".
Responding, Mr Adams said there had been "substantial changes" in the accountability mechanisms governing the PSNI which was now more accountable than An Garda Síochána. He noted the role of the Ombudsman in the North in recent days in exposing RUC collusion with loyalist paramilitaries.
Commenting on the proposed policy move, Mr Adams said: "We do it because we think it's the right thing for our struggle and for our people. We have to reach above ourselves and think about the future and all of this is oriented towards the future."
Another speaker, who said he was from Clones, Co Monaghan, said that, "hopefully", the institutions would be "up and running in the six counties" in the near future, but how was the party going to keep its ministers accountable so that they did not accumulate power on a personal basis. Gerry Kelly said Sinn Féin was an all-Ireland party which was not like other parties on the island and the ardchomhairle or executive would deal with the issue of ministerial accountability.
