Blair lauds Sinn Fein as row threatens N rish deal

DUBLIN, Jan 8 (Reuters) Sinn Fein has shown remarkable leadership British Prime Minister Tony Blair said today as he sought to defuse a row over policing and reassure the party its rivals are serious about sharing power in Northern Ireland.

''Sinn Fein has demonstrated one of the most remarkable examples of leadership I have come across in modern politics,'' he wrote of the IRA's political ally in the Irish Times.

Blair, who last week cut short his holiday to intervene in the latest stand-off between Sinn Fein and pro-British opponent, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), said both should seize a ''once-in-a-generation opportunity to make a lasting peace''.

London and Dublin have set a March 26 deadline for the restoration of a Belfast-based, power-sharing assembly but the DUP is unwilling to sign up to the timetable until it is convinced Sinn Fein, whose largely Catholic following wants a united Ireland, is backing the police and the rule of law.

Sinn Fein has long mistrusted a legal system it views as biased in favour of Protestant unionists, who want Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom.

It has called a party conference to debate policing this month, but the DUP's failure to respond positively to the move means it is now in jeopardy.

Senior Sinn Fein members are due to meet tomorrow to decide whether the conference should go ahead and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said at the weekend the coming days would be key to determining if a deal can be clinched by March.

Northern Ireland has been largely peaceful since a 1998 deal to end 30 years of conflict in which 3,600 people were killed, but London resumed direct rule of the province in 2002 after the collapse of the Belfast Assembly it now hopes to reinstate.

Blair, who wants to seal a positive legacy for Northern Ireland before he leaves office this year, said Sinn Fein backing for the police would be of profound significance.

''They need to know clearly that if they do make this move ... then unionism will not be found wanting,'' he wrote, adding he believed the DUP was ready to govern with Sinn Fein from March provided the commitment on policing was forthcoming.

The DUP has given no such public undertaking, however, and one of the party's lawmakers, Nigel Dodds, said yesterday unionists needed to be confident of Sinn Fein support for law and order before moving.

''No one can look into a crystal ball and foresee when that's going to be,'' he added.

Reuters AB RS1720