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05/02/2002
SDLP leader highlights benefits of NI Policing Board
The SDLP leader Mark Durkan has briefed senior Irish American political leaders, businessmen and lawyers on how the SDLP is delivering the new beginning to policing.
Speaking at an Irish American Bar Association on Monday February 4, in honour of Gerard Lynch, a member of the Patten Commission, Mark Durkan paid tribute to the role of Irish Americans in ensuring a new beginning to policing.
Mr Durkan stated that through its participation on the Policing Board, the SDLP was continuing its role as pathfinder and leader of nationalist involvement in the new policing dispensation.
"Through out participation in the Policing Board, the SDLP is playing its part in delivering the new beginning to policing, instead of shouting from the sidelines. We have seen responsibility and opportunity intersect and offer a new path forward. Not for the first time, the SDLP have been the pathfinders.
"Thanks to the SDLP led pressure, the British Government at talks at Weston Park had to concede extensive and detailed commitments to bring its proposals back in line with Patten. As the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, has pointed out, the Weston Park package can deliver both 'the spirit and the substance of the Patten report.'
The SDLP leader concluded: "We now have three separate institutions designed to hold the Police to account: the Police Ombudsman, the Policing Board and the Oversight Commissioner."
He said that the work of all three had highlighted the fundamental differences between the new policing arrangements and that of the old order. (AMcE)
Speaking at an Irish American Bar Association on Monday February 4, in honour of Gerard Lynch, a member of the Patten Commission, Mark Durkan paid tribute to the role of Irish Americans in ensuring a new beginning to policing.
Mr Durkan stated that through its participation on the Policing Board, the SDLP was continuing its role as pathfinder and leader of nationalist involvement in the new policing dispensation.
"Through out participation in the Policing Board, the SDLP is playing its part in delivering the new beginning to policing, instead of shouting from the sidelines. We have seen responsibility and opportunity intersect and offer a new path forward. Not for the first time, the SDLP have been the pathfinders.
"Thanks to the SDLP led pressure, the British Government at talks at Weston Park had to concede extensive and detailed commitments to bring its proposals back in line with Patten. As the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, has pointed out, the Weston Park package can deliver both 'the spirit and the substance of the Patten report.'
The SDLP leader concluded: "We now have three separate institutions designed to hold the Police to account: the Police Ombudsman, the Policing Board and the Oversight Commissioner."
He said that the work of all three had highlighted the fundamental differences between the new policing arrangements and that of the old order. (AMcE)
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