Northern Ireland suffers from political battling

The two coalition partners of the Northern Ireland regional government, the Catholic Sinn Féin and the Protestant Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), are still negotiating the transferal of authority over the police and the justice system from London to Belfast. The daily The Irish Times urges the parties to finally unite: "The destructive and dirty side of ... politics ... is being played out in Northern Ireland while the people want progress. People on the ground are being short-changed and the peace process they endorsed is under threat. DUP and Sinn Féin politicians have been diverted by disagreements over dates for the transfer of justice and policing powers and changes to the Parades Commission [which regulates Protestant marches in Catholic neighbourhoods], as the economic situation worsens. For the first time, the confidence of the electorate, North and South, in the political dispensation endorsed in the historic Belfast Agreement, is waning. We are on the cusp of a moment of development or betrayal."

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