Support for policing and powersharing were essential for progress in the North, the Church of Ireland primate, Archbishop Robin Eames, said yesterday after his first formal meeting with Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams.
Dr Eames led a delegation of Church of Ireland bishops, all with dioceses in the North, in what were described as the first "public" talks with Mr Adams and senior Sinn Féin politicians at Parliament Buildings, Stormont, yesterday. Both men agreed the meeting was important and positive.
While Sinn Féin politicians have held private meetings with Dr Eames and other Church of Ireland bishops, this was the first one to be publicly acknowledged.
Dr Eames, at a press conference and in a statement afterwards, said the meeting touched on many issues, including policing, sectarianism, devolution, the Disappeared, parades, education, collusion, equality and poverty.
He also referred to how the dispute over the pledge of office for the prospective first minister and deputy first minister - Dr Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness - had stalled plans for a face-to-face Programme for Government Committee meeting between Mr Adams and the DUP leader.
"We are anxious to see progress; we are anxious to see movement. Above all else, at the end of the day we want to see a Northern Ireland that is at peace with itself," said Dr Eames.
He said while he was aware of the sensitivities of Sinn Féin over policing, "we also put on the table the sensitivities of those who want to see Sinn Féin and all the parties supporting the police".
He did not directly say that now was the time for the DUP to share power with Sinn Féin, although he made clear that the twin issues of powersharing and policing should be speedily resolved. "The bishops stated their belief that political and social progress can only be achieved by full and equal participation in the structures of democracy with support for policing," said Dr Eames.
In a reference to republican violence, Dr Eames said at the meeting he "stressed the hurt that is still harboured among parishes that we deal with, and how we deal with memories and how we look back to the things of the past in terms of how we move forward".
At his separate press conference, Mr Adams indicated that if the dispute over the pledge was not resolved by Friday it could become a serious problem. Behind-the-scenes efforts are continuing to try to find an accommodation on the issue that would satisfy both the DUP and Sinn Féin. "If there is a will it can be sorted out," he said.
Mr Adams said of the meeting: "There was a certain humour and wry irony that - and I said this to the bishops - we were able, as a Sinn Féin leadership, to welcome the Church of Ireland bishops to Stormont. I thought that was part of the changing times in which we live in."
