Republican News · Thursday 17 October 2002

Sinn Féin begins series of bilateral meetings

Sinn Féin Assembly Group leader Conor Murphy and Chief Whip Sue Ramsey met with the Women's Coalition and the Alliance Party on Wednesday as part of a series of bilateral meetings around the current crisis. Today, Sinn Féin will meet the SDLP.

Speaking after the meetings, Murphy said: "Given the seriousness of the political impasse we are facing, it is crucial that we keep talking and keep contact going at all levels between the political parties.

"We have come so far in the last ten years and the potential to transform society in the next ten years is so great that no political party will serve its electorate well if they walk away from the institutions or refuse to engage in dialogue.

"The dangers of allowing a political vacuum to open up and deepen cannot be underestimated. It is vacuum that is all too readily filled with acts of real violence from those who oppose the peace process and Good Friday Agreement."

Stormont Raid Inquiry

Also on Wednesday, Sue Ramsey and Dara O'Haga met with the Assembly Speaker, Lord Alderdice, to discuss the Inquiry into the PSNI raid on the Sinn Féin office in the Assembly.

Speaking after the meeting, Ramsey said:

"The PSNI raid of party offices in the Assembly were part of an elaborately choreographed performance for the media. Despite tipping off the media prior to their heavy-handed attack on the democratic institutions, the PSNI scuttled away locking decidedly foolish with two computer discs taken at random as the tried to avoid the media. The two discs have since been returned.

"This raid begs a number of key questions. Who authorised this assault on the democratic institutions? Who authorised the PSNI to enter the building from within the Assembly? Why did the PSNI gain entrance to the building prior to the production of a search warrant? When did the Speaker become away of the raid? Why was Sinn Féin not informed of the imminent raid?

"Two members of staff have lodged formal complaints with the Police Ombudsman's Office and Conor Murphy has also lodged a complaint on behalf of the party.

"Clearly the PSNI had no intention of searching Sinn Féin offices but were instead engaged in a piece of political theatre. As we look at yet another suspension we must be aware of the damage that has now been done to the standing of these institutions."