Sinn Fein vote for watershed conference on N. Ireland policing

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2006

DUBLIN (AFP) — The executive of Sinn Fein, Northern Ireland's main Roman Catholic party, voted to hold a landmark conference next month on its attitude to policing -- the main obstacle to restoring power-sharing in the province. After a meeting lasting over six hours in a Dublin Airport hotel, the 55-member Ard Chomhairle (national executive) of the political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) gave the green light to a major step on the tortuous road towards a devolved administration in Belfast.

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams said that if the British and Irish governments and the Democratic Unionists (DUP) -- Northern Ireland's biggest Protestant party -- reacted positively to the decision then a crunch Ard Fheis (national delegate conference) on policing would go...