Gerry Kelly MLA on dispute over PSNI in New York City St. Patricks Day Parade In observing the dispute over the PSNI joining the GARDA in the St. Patrick’s Day parade in New York, one wonders what all the fuss is about! Policing, like politics in general is in transition mode in the 6-counties, since the emergence of the Good Friday Agreement almost 16 years ago. The GFA, which created the political architecture to facilitate a peaceful and democratic path to the re-unification of our country, also promised a new beginning to policing…..fair and impartial; free from partisan political control. This remains a work in progress, with the PSNI replacing the RUC in 2001 and Sinn Fein entering the new policing structures and accountability mechanisms 6 years later. In 2010 with the signing of the Hillsborough Agreement, policing and justice powers were subsequently transferred from Westminster to the local political institutions. Nationalists and Republicans now populate and in some areas control, the local accountability mechanisms, PCSP’s (Policing & Community Safety Partnership’s) across the 6-counties. They also occupy key positions on the Policing Board which has the power to hold the Chief Constable of the PSNI to account on a continuous basis, either as representatives of Sinn Fein or the SDLP or as ‘independent’ members. Nationalists and Republicans also sit on the Justice Committee in the Assembly which exercises oversight over all decisions taken by the Justice Minister in addition to any draft justice bills. Raymond McCartney of Sinn Fein, an ex-pow, is vice chair of this committee. In effect the PSNI is not a continuum of the RUC and participation in the oversight mechanisms outlined represent the best guarantee against any potential for the current policing and justice agencies to return to partisan political control. Our active participation on these mechanisms will also prevent any potential emergence of a Unionist militia as the bulwark against the realization of Nationalist and Republican aspirations. We clearly recognize that elements of the old policing and justice regime are still active within the new structures and ‘anti-republican’ mind-sets and practices have emerged on occasion around different issues. But the strength of the accountability mechanisms and the tenacity of its incumbents have ensured that they have been isolated and confronted over time. Again we emphasize that it is still a work in progress, within which much has been achieved but much remains to be done! Given such a scenario, protests against joint PSNI-GARDA participation in an event such as the St. Patrick’s Day parade- a manifestation of Irishness and Irish culture-is unwarranted and has been met with a degree of surprise and nonchalance by the nationalist and republican community in the North of Ireland. Gerry Kelly MLA Member of the Policing Board
Posted on: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 04:38:18 +0000
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