North policing talks continue
Martin McGuinness holds more talks with the Irish and British Governments today as negotiations on transferring policing and justice powers to Northern Ireland gather momentum.
The Sinn Féin Deputy First Minister wants responsibilities to be passed from London to Belfast as soon as possible.
He and power-sharing partners the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) have received a financial offer from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to kick-start the process.
Mr McGuinness holds talks with Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin in Dublin before meeting Mr Brown in Downing Street.
The DUP wants to ensure there is sufficient unionist confidence before giving the go-ahead.
Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams addresses the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly in Swansea today.
“Sinn Féin’s vision of a new Ireland is of a shared Ireland, an integrated Ireland, an Ireland in which unionists have equal ownership, an Ireland in which there will be respect for cultural diversity, and a place in which there is political, social, economic and cultural equality,” he will say.
“There is no desire on the part of Irish republicans to conquer or humiliate unionists.
“There can be no place for revenge in the thinking or vocabulary of Irish republicanism.”
He will say the border with the Irish Republic is more than just an inconvenience.
“The reality is that the economy of the North is too small to exist in isolation.
“The economies of both parts of the island are interlinked and interdependent. The delivery of public services is restricted and inefficient.”
