N.Ireland policing talks over
By politics.co.uk staff
Talks between Sinn Fein and the DUP over policing and justice in Northern Ireland have ended, it was confirmed today.
Alex Maskey, a Sinn Fein MLA for South Belfast, said the current round of negotiations were over.
The confirmation comes as claim and counter-claim threaten to overrule negotiations between the two sides.
Acting first minister Arlene Foster, who is temporarily taking over from Peter Robinson, said her party’s negotiators had waited in Stormont through Thursday with no one to negotiate with.
Mr Maskey said his party had informed the DUP of its decision on Wednesday night.
“Our door remains open,” he said.
In his blog for the Belfast Media Group, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams said the development was not a surprise.
“The failure of the DUP thus far to come up to the plate during the current round of negotiations shouldn’t come as any great surprise,” he wrote.
“They want the scrapping of the Parades Commission and progress on the ground – in other words marches through Catholic areas.”
A Sinn Fein party meeting over the weekend will map out a strategy for how to proceed.
