Key demands that could dictate whether the SDLP endorses the new Police Act can be met, according to the British government. Seven policing demands put to Mr Tony Blair by the SDLP deputy leader, Mr Seamus Mallon, could be met in one form or another, a senior British government source said yesterday.
At Downing Street on Wednesday night Mr Mallon outlined seven specific requirements that must be fulfilled if there is to be hope of the SDLP endorsing the Act. The British source yesterday detailed how this could be done.
Mr Mallon called for independent inquiries into disputed killings, particularly those of Pat Finucane and Robert Hamill. The source indicated that while criminal inquiries into these murders must proceed as normal, commitments about subsequent inquiries into the cases could be provided.
Mr Mallon sought guarantees that if the Policing Board could not agree on flags and emblems for the Police Service of Northern Ireland, then this symbolism, in accordance with the Patten report, would be neutral of the British and Irish states. The source said such assurance was officially given in the British Parliament. Mr Mallon sought guarantees that the old RUC Special Branch would be subsumed into the general crime division of the new force, that Gough barracks holding centre would be closed, and that through lateral entry gardai could be seconded into the force. He also requested time frames for when the full-time reserve would be disbanded and the part-time reserve expanded.
Again, said the source, all these demands could be met in the implementation plan expected to be known around the time of President Clinton's visit in less than two weeks. However, Mr Mallon has insisted that these matters would have to be firmly tied down before he would accept their bona fides.
The British source added that by the time of the President's arrival, it should be clearer whether the political deadlock could be resolved. Meanwhile, the Ulster Unionist Party MP for Strangford, Mr John Taylor, has accused the British government of appeasing Sinn Fein after the Disqualifications Bill, which allows members of the Dail to stand for elections to Stormont and Westminster, was passed by British MPs.
The measure favoured Sinn Fein "because it provides for them to take seats in the Dublin Parliament", he said on the BBC yesterday.
But the Sinn Fein chairman, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, said the legislation would benefit all parties equally as it would allow members of the Stormont Assembly to sit in the Dail.
This issue had clearly to do with deepening the relationship north, south, east and west, he added.
