Dublin: Sinn Fein leaders debated behind closed doors yesterday whether their once-revolutionary party should support the Northern Ireland police force, a fundamental step in peacemaking.
Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams told his Irish Republican Army-linked party the time was right for the move, which could pave the way for a revived Catholic-Protestant administration in Northern Ireland. Power-sharing was the central dream of the Good Friday peace deal of 1998 but fell apart in 2002 amid chronic tensions between Protestants and Sinn Fein, the major Catholic-backed party.
Britain compared the Sinn Fein leader's latest move to the IRA's decision last year to declare its 1997 ceasefire permanent and to surrender its weapons stockpiles to disarmament chiefs.
Significance
"This move by Gerry Adams is of enormous significance and is of seismic importance," said Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain, who hopes to hand control of 13 government departments in the British territory to local hands on March 26.
