TAOISEACH BRIAN Cowen is to meet British prime minister Gordon Brown in London this evening against growing concern that the impasse over policing and justice could precipitate the collapse of the Northern Executive and Assembly.
Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, after holding talks with Mr Cowen in Tullamore on Saturday, said Sinn Féin required a commitment from DUP leader Peter Robinson before Christmas to see policing and justice powers transferred early in the new year.
Sinn Féin chairman Declan Kearney yesterday accused the DUP of pursuing a “train wreck political strategy” which would have inevitable “political consequences” – a comment the British and Irish governments fear means Sinn Féin would walk out of the Assembly and Executive if policing and justice powers are not speedily devolved.
Mr McGuinness left the Taoiseach in no doubt about Sinn Féin’s anger and frustration at the lack of movement on policing.
Mr Cowen is meeting Mr Brown today concerned that in addition to the problems over transferring policing powers, Sinn Féin is growing convinced that there is little or no political benefit to powersharing with the DUP.
That was the thrust of the speech delivered by Mr Kearney in Dunloy, Co Antrim yesterday.
“The fact is that political institutions which fail to protect and deliver equality for all citizens are of no political value to anyone,” he said.
Dublin and Sinn Féin complain of mixed signals coming from Mr Robinson.
At his annual conference on Saturday week, Mr Robinson indicated a potential willingness to end the policing and justice standoff while also firmly stating that the decision to share power with Sinn Féin was the correct one.
But after meeting Mr Brown in Downing Street on Thursday, Mr Robinson repeated that parading must be resolved before he would agree to the transfer of policing powers.
In Derry on Friday night, Mr Robinson also proposed a change to the Northern Executive decision-making process where three parties instead of the current four could take decisions.
Mr McGuinness repudiated the parading proposal as an unacceptable new precondition and said the proposal on Executive decision-making was an “attack” on the Belfast and St Andrews agreements.
“I see these attacks as a very clear example of the failure on the part of the DUP to embrace the equality, partnership and power sharing arrangements which lie at the heart of these agreements,” he said.
Mr Cowen and Mr Brown today must try to find a way to break the logjam against a background of an increasingly bitter relationship between Mr Robinson and Mr McGuinness.
Were Sinn Féin to pull out of the Executive, Northern Secretary Shaun Woodward would be obliged under the St Andrews Agreement to call Assembly elections. Mr Kearney said the DUP must make up its mind now. “In recent weeks all the evidence indicates the DUP have no intention to support the transfer of policing and justice powers,” he said.
“Absolutely nothing suggests this position will change. Their continued intransigence is a serious political mistake. It is a train-wreck political strategy and political consequences will be inevitable,” he added.
“All of this demonstrates that the impasse over policing and justice is about something deeper than a transfer of powers. It’s about whether political unionism is prepared to co-exist with republicans in equality and partnership,” added Mr Kearney.
“Last week Peter Robinson asserted that the DUP will not walk away from the political institutions. The question is not whether the DUP will walk away; the really urgent and immediate question is whether the DUP can stay within the institutions and commit to equality and partnership,” he said.