Sinn Féin chief negotiator Martin McGuinness has predicted that members of his party could one day hold responsibility for policing in a powersharing executive in the North and in the Republic's government.
He had no doubt, he said, that Sinn Féin could achieve with others a transformation on policing which would make it democratic and accountable, enjoying community support.
"Republicans and nationalists, who have suffered from partisan policing, want a new beginning based on impartiality and accountability more than anyone else. I have no doubt that some day a republican could hold ministerial responsibility for policing North and South."
Speaking at the MacGill Summer School in Glenties, Co Donegal, on the theme "Reconciling orange and green", Mr McGuinness said his party was not holding back on policing as Northern Secretary Peter Hain had suggested.
"Indeed, many nationalists are puzzled by the foot-dragging of the British government and ask why, seven years on from the Patten Commission's report, we are still awaiting further policing legislation. Has it anything to do with Britain's efforts to cover up decades of state collusion with loyalist death squads?"
Mr McGuinness said republicans had a vested interest in the creation and delivery of proper policing. "It is our communities which have suffered most as a result of decades of a unionist militia posing as a police service. We are determined that an effective police service,which is democratic and accountable, becomes part of the fabric of life in the Six Counties and the entire island.
"Substantial progress has been made in relation to policing because of the work of republicans. We have made sure that the British cannot walk away from this issue. Policing has been, and continues to be, a central part of ongoing political negotiations."
He said he was absolutely convinced that the final pieces could be put in place if the two governments lived up to their commitment on the transfer of powers and if the political will existed among all the political parties.
Mr McGuinness said that the only obstacle to the restoration of the Assembly and the powersharing Executive was the refusal of the DUP to be part of those institutions.
"That is their prerogative, but let there be no doubt that the process of change will continue and it is better for all of us in political leadership, and for our constituents, if we are directing and managing that process of change through a functioning powersharing Executive."
Dr Alasdair McDonnell, deputy leader of the SDLP, called on the DUP and Sinn Féin to stop "messing around" in advance of the November 25th deadline for the restoration of the institutions.
He said: "So what is going to happen on November 25th? It is easy and popular to say: wind the whole Stormont circus up, shut it down, pay them off. But look at what we are facing? If the politicians cannot share power, then how can we expect the people to share society?
"The DUP has got to stop messing around on powersharing, and Sinn Féin has got to stop messing around on its commitment to a lawful society. And they both need to be upfront about the cost of failure. After November 25th, while we might have the British and Irish governments working together, all that we would really have in the way of political institutions would be seven Balkanised super-councils, three green ones in the west and three orange ones in the east, plus a mottled one in Belfast.
"The governments and Sinn Féin tell us that in each super-council, there would be minority representation of at least 25 per cent. It seems they forgot to count Independent unionist councillors in their calculations. They are sleep-walking us into disaster."
He said that violence inflicted upon the community as a whole by the militant fundamentalists on both sides of the divide had a terrible legacy.
However, he added, in some respects, the green and orange were closer together than ever. "Working families from both traditions share the same hopes and fears for their children."
Tom Elliot, UUP spokesman on agriculture and rural development, said he could never see a time when he would trust Sinn Féin because of its history and links with the IRA who had murdered many of his friends.
However, Mr Elliot said, as they moved forward, while it was obvious that they would not always have agreement, all communities must exercise tolerance and respect for each other.
Gregory Campbell of the DUP said that whatever happened either before or after November 25th, his party remained committed to seeing the process through.
He said that unionists found it very difficult to understand, never mind sympathise, with the approach which was often taken by republicans in relation to policing.
"The notion that crimes should not be reported to the police, and that a political principle of not dealing with the police should be put ahead of a victim of rape, for instance, is frankly perverse."