Blair vows to keep MI5, police apart in N Ireland

LONDON, Jan 10 (Reuters) Britain promised today to keep its intelligence services and the Northern Ireland police separate in future, a pledge it hopes will help pave the way for a historic power-sharing deal in the province.

Separating the spy agency MI5 from the workings of the police in British-ruled Northern Ireland is a key condition set by nationalist party Sinn Fein for its support of policing.

Sinn Fein's backing for a legal system it sees as favouring pro-British unionists is needed before its political opponent, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), will agree to share power in a Belfast assembly that London and Dublin hope will start work by March 26.

''The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and the security service will be completely distinct and entirely separate bodies,'' British Prime Minister Tony Blair said in a written statement to parliament.

''No police officers will be seconded to or under the control of the security service.'' Any interaction between the two bodies will go through a liaison unit and the PSNI alone will handle civic policing with no role for MI5, which Sinn Fein has accused of colluding with Protestant paramilitaries and running covert operations against it.

Under proposals in last year's St Andrews agreement on the future of Northern Ireland, Britain envisaged a closer relationship between the PSNI and MI5, which nationalists feared could lead to an unaccountable ''force within a force''.

Sinn Fein raised fresh doubts yesterday about the assembly's restoration, saying it was reconsidering plans for a special conference on policing this month because of a lack of clarity from the DUP about the timetable for sharing power.

Blair's statement, which followed talks with Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams, could help address those misgivings.

''Our objective has been to firewall local policing from the malign and corruptive control of MI5. Today's proposals will go a long way to achieving that,'' Sinn Fein said in a statement.

The party's ruling council is due to meet at the weekend to discuss whether to hold the policing conference.

Sinn Fein, the political ally of the Irish Republican Army guerrilla group, is the main nationalist party in Northern Ireland and ultimately wants a united Ireland. Unionists want the province to remain part of Britain.

Blair, who would like to to conclude a Northern Ireland deal before leaving office this year, said the province's police ombudsman would be given access to ''sensitive information'' held by MI5 where necessary.

Reuters BDP GC2041