Sinn Fein has criticised the review of the criminal justice system in the North and called for the creation of an all-Ireland constitutional court to vet all legislation within the 32 counties.
In March the Criminal Justice Review Group, a body which was set up under the Belfast Agreement, made 294 recommendations for change in the legal system in the North.
With the six-month consultation period for the report nearly expired, the president of Sinn Fein called for an "urgent public debate" on what he termed this "key issue". Mr Gerry Adams said even if a fully reformed policing service was created, it would have to be working in harmony with a fair criminal justice system. If such a system was not in place, the potential for division and alienation and abuse remained, he said.
Mr Adams was particularly critical of the retention of non-jury courts and "repressive laws", which were "totally at odds with any human rights ethos". Ms Michelle Gildernew MLA, SF equality spokeswoman, criticised the review for not recommending that judges be banned from membership of exclusive organisations such as the Orange Order and the Freemasons.
Sinn Fein's submission to the British government said the review did not address the absence from the bench of people from republican and nationalist backgrounds, nor did it suggest any mechanism for measuring the number of judges from these backgrounds in the future.
Ms Gildernew said these omissions meant the review had failed to "meet the challenge of producing a judiciary representative of our community" or to address limitations on suspects' right to silence whereby "negative implications" can be drawn.
By proposing that there be no change regarding displaying the royal coat of arms outside courthouses, Ms Gildernew said, there had been a failure to champion a neutral working environment.
The review called for greater cross-Border co-operation in some legal functions and suggested the establishment of a group of criminal justice policymakers from both sides of the Border. Sinn Fein described this co-operation as "very limited" and called for the establishment of a 32-county law reform council and an all-Ireland constitutional court.
In its submission, the party said the court "should be the Supreme Court of the 32 counties" and would progressively harmonise the two jurisdictions and prevent further fracturing of legal systems. This had been raised with the Irish Government, Ms Gildernew said, but there was no response as yet.
Such a court would not be alien to the spirit of the Belfast Agreement, as the Agreement "called for more co-operation on these matters. The Criminal Justice Review did not go far enough in being imaginative in putting into place a criminal justice system that would reflect the traditions on this island," she said.