N. Irish Police Plan Gets Support

A key Roman Catholic political party joined church leaders Monday in breathing new life into the Northern Ireland peace process by backing a plan to overhaul the province’s Protestant-dominated police force.

Leaders of the Social Democratic and Labor Party, or SDLP, agreed to nominate representatives to a 19-member civilian Policing Board and appealed to young Catholics to join the force, which is known as the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

The party’s announcement was in stark contrast to one made last week by Sinn Fein, the political ally of the Irish Republican Army, or IRA, which wrote the plan off as inadequate.

Winning the endorsement of the SDLP, the moderate Catholic nationalist element in Northern Ireland’s coalition government, was viewed as crucial. The party has considerable influence over young Catholics, whose participation in the new force is expected to be key to its success.

Catholics make up less than 10% of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, and many of them regard the police force as an element in the Protestant-dominated power structure.

Police reform and the disarming of the IRA are hot-button issues in the effort to implement the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement. The accord seeks to end decades of violence between Catholics who wish to join the province to Ireland and Protestants who want to remain a part of Britain.

The British government published a revised plan Friday for reforming the police department by reducing its size, closing the last anti-terrorist interrogation center and reducing by half a secretive intelligence unit. Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid asked key parties to indicate by noon today whether they planned to nominate candidates to the Policing Board, which will oversee the overhaul of the force and will possess broad powers to appoint key police officials.

Still unclear after the declarations by major Catholic parties is the position of the Ulster Unionist Party, the province’s largest Protestant group.

British officials hope the creation of the board will pave the way for a fresh start to policing in Northern Ireland.

SDLP leader John Hume announced his party’s position several hours after Catholic Church leaders also signed off on the policing plan.

“We will respond positively to an invitation to join the Policing Board, and we will be encouraging people from all sections of the community to join the new police service,” Hume said.

Sinn Fein Chairman Mitchel McLaughlin called for a “level playing field” Monday in the ongoing debate over the police reforms. He warned those who favor the reforms against pressuring all Catholics into accepting the plan.

But Catholic Church leaders issued their own veiled warning, which appeared to be aimed at the IRA.

“Young Catholics must feel totally free to choose whether or not to participate in the new policing service. Failure to respect that right, in any form, would be a profound contravention of their human rights,” said a statement issued by the church’s Northern Irish bishops.

British officials clung to the day’s positive developments rather than the continued opposition of hard-liners. Reid described the SDLP announcement as an “unprecedented move” by the group.

“We have embarked upon a process of fundamental change, and I am pleased that the SDLP will play a direct role in taking [it] forward,” he said.

Reid has indicated that he will be willing to begin appointing members to the Policing Board as soon as he feels comfortable that its members will fairly represent the makeup of the entire province, that it can command support from both Protestants and Catholics, and that it can be effective.

British officials suggested Monday that opposition by Sinn Fein is not enough to keep Reid from forming the board.