The SDLP said today security in Northern Ireland could be scaled down significantly within nine months to a year.
SDLP normalisation spokesman Dominic Bradley
The party today released details of a three-phase move to tear down army fortifications, give policing organisations primacy over intelligence gathering and announce plans for unarmed police officers.
The document, unveiled by the party's normalisation spokesman, Dominic Bradley, along with Assembly colleagues Alex Attwood and Patricia Lewsley, calls on the British government to withdraw plans to give MI5 the lead role in intelligence gathering in the North.
But it also calls for the abandonment and demolition of Army watchtowers and observation posts in south Armagh, west Belfast and Derry and defortification of police stations.
Last week Northern Ireland's Policing Board received a security assessment that hardline dissident republicans still pose a threat and the Provisional IRA remains active despite being on ceasefire.
But Mr Bradley insisted the security climate was such that the SDLP's proposals were reasonable
"Everything we are proposing is mindful of the security environment," Mr Bradley said. "However, any proper balanced security assessment would show you that at least 80 per cent of our programme is deliverable
"Our proposals significantly advance demilitarisation and would enable us to have more police officers on the ground as well as creating better policing.
PA