The political parties in Northern Ireland have been given until Tuesday to decide if they will accept or reject the new-look police service as set out in the Government's latest implementation plan.
Northern Ireland Secretary Dr John Reid today set the deadline - midday next Tuesday - for parties to declare if they were prepared to join the new force's board.
In an appeal directed at the SDLP he said: "If we do get representation across the community on a policing board not only can we start but we will have, next Tuesday for the first time in Northern Ireland, a police board and a police authority which genuinely incorporates within the elected representatives the nationalist and unionist community.
"That would be a major, major step forward."
Dr Reid hailed the plan as fulfilling the Patten recommendations in spirit and substance.
He hit out at Sinn Féin for having rejected the package "out of hand" before it had been published but also said he hoped no one would block Catholics intending to join the new service. He said he believed many nationalists were keen to join up.
Two weeks ago both Sinn Féin and the Ulster Unionist Party rejected the proposals when they were shown in private to the pro-agreement parties.
The Ulster Unionists maintained they would not consider the issue of policing without IRA disarmament, while the Republican movement has become embroiled in controversy since the arrest of three Irishmen in Colombia last weekend.
Earlier today Sir Ronnie Flanagan called on all communities in Northern Ireland to support the Implementation Plan on policing which could see the RUC’s Special Branch halved by next month.
According to the reforms document it has been accepted by the British Government that the existing full-time Special Branch reserve should be phased out over a three-year period.
The proposals come after the revision of all 175 recommendations in the Patten Report into reforming policing in Northern Ireland.
It said: "The Chief Constable aims, by September 2001, to amalgamate into the wider police service those units commonly referred to as support units. This would, by that stage, have reduced the size of Special Branch by around 50 per cent."
Also under the new reforms the 19-strong Policing Board would no longer need a majority in order to launch investigations into allegations of RUC misdemeanours.
Should the proposals be accepted just eight members will be needed to back a proposed investigation, once that represented a majority of those present.The document also proposes to have the holding centre at Gough barracks closed in September.
Mr Flanagan said today he believed the plan would be a "blue print for effective policing" if it had widespread cross-community support and pledged the RUC’s support for it.
He said: "the RUC stands ready to energetically play its part in the implementation of those parts of the plan for which it has responsibility".
The Taoiseach Mr Ahern also welcomed the proposals, which he said, provided "a basis for realising the new beginning in policing envisaged in the Good Friday Agreement".
Noting the sensitive nature of the issue for many people, Mr Ahern urged all parties to give "careful and positive consideration" to the nominating of members to the Policing Board.
Additional reporting by PA