By Niall O’Dowd

SINN Fein’s decision to call a special Ard Fheis (convention) to discuss policing is arguably the most significant move by them since the original IRA ceasefire in 1994.

Issues such as decommissioning weapons were ultimately a matter to timing rather than orthodoxy. Once the decision by the IRA to step down was made, the inevitable reality was that decommissioning would happen at some point. And so it proved.

Policing was, however, a far more emotive issue ultimately to deal with. The fact is that most Nationalists experienced first hand what a sectarian state looked like through contact with the police force.

The old RUC were defenders of that state and elements within it ensured they did whatever was necessary to defend it. Death squads, shoot to kill, collusion with Loyalist murder gangs were all the stock in trade. Little wonder that by the end of the Troubles there was widespread hatred from ordinary Nationalists for everything the police stood for.

The Patten Commission under Sir Chris Patten was established to give policing a new start in the North as part of the new dispensation in the aftermath of the peace process.

It did a remarkable job in laying out a blueprint for how a new force, to be known as the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), could remove the stigma of the old and create a genuinely even handed force.

The conclusions were barely set down on paper, however, before major efforts were afoot to undermine them. The tussle has continued since then, with neither side forging a clear advantage.

Into this maelstrom has walked the Sinn Fein leadership. They were faced with two unappetizing choices — go with what they had achieved, though short of the overall Patten goal, or continue to allow the issue to bedevil the peace process to the point of collapse.

In the event they took the courageous path and have decided to confront head on the uncertainty and doubt among many in their own community about policing.

It is not an easy task, and it is expected that they will lose many members who find the notion of signing up to supporting any police force in Northern Ireland unacceptable in the extreme. Some insiders expect that as many as 20% of the party members could walk away rather than have the new PSNI endorsed.

No doubt there will be heated debate between now and then and at the Ard Fheis itself in the end of January. There is simply no more emotive issue for Republicans than policing.

Yet when the dust settles it is expected that the party will have passed this crucial final test on its way to power sharing, one that seemed inconceivable just a few years ago.

Throughout the peace process Sinn Fein have achieved the balance between pragmatic politics and retaining fundamental priorities very well. Their ability to continue to do that will be tested like never before at this Ard Fheis.

Naysayers, however, have already began their chorus of catcalls, but they have no better solution other than a return to war. Perhaps they could pause and consider the utter futility of the ETA resumption of bombing in Spain this last weekend which killed two innocent Equadorian immigrants. The road to disaster lies in that direction.

The road to success lies with an Ard Fheis that airs the differences but retains the coherent political strategy that this generation of Sinn Fein leaders have shown throughout the process. The prize is great — for starters an equal share of power in a state that condemned them to oblivion for generations. It is within grasp.