A quick point to note on the Sinn Féin manifesto, launched today. The PA report has some interesting detail on the pledges it contains – more below the fold
Sinn Fein also pledged in its 50-page manifesto to:
:: Achieve fully democratically accountable civic policing, secure the transfer of policing and justice powers from Westminster to Stormont by May 2008, develop a balanced and comprehensive strategy to acknowledge and address the suffering of victims and survivors, force the British government to acknowledge its role in collusion and shoot-to-kill, block the secondment of Police Service of Northern Ireland officers to MI5, guarantee all-party representation on the Policing Board special purposes committee, and ensure the Police Ombudsman has statutory access to all information held by the PSNI and statutory powers to hold all police officers to account. [added emphasis]
The problem for SF is that, while such a pledge may satisfy their own conditions for the Ard Chomhairle to eventually implement the motion passed at the recent Ard Fheis, the British government have made it as clear as they can that the devolution of policing and justice powers, however restricted those powers may be, will ultimately depend on conditions on the ground – “nor is the power available to the Government”