Patten's RUC balancing act

The RUC enjoys little support amongst Catholics

A new law designed to reform the police service in Northern Ireland enters its third stage in the House of Lords on Wednesday. BBC political correspondent Jon Devitt looks at the proposed reforms and the controversy they have generated.

When Chris Patten was given the task of devising a new police force in Northern Ireland two-and-a-half years ago his objective was clear - "to provide a new beginning for the police service in order to attract and sustain the support of the community as a whole".

Mr Patten, a former British minister responsible for Northern Ireland, was under no illusions about the complexity of fulfilling that objective.

Chris Patten: Report on future of policing

The reform has to achieve a delicate balance, creating a force which the mainly Catholic community will join and respect, while not alienating Protestants, who wish to see the new force evolve out of the old Protestant-dominated Royal Ulster Constabulary.

Not surprisingly, as the detail has been argued over in parliament there have been plenty of areas where the two sides have disagreed.

For the Protestants losing the name of the RUC, its badges and emblems are an insult to the memory of a force which they regard as having protected the community through 30 years of violence.

There has been strong pressure applied to water down the Patten proposals and politicians who represent the Protestant community have called for a moratorium on their implementation.

Proposals 'gutted'

In a recent newspaper article one member of the Patten commission, Clifford Shearing, argued that the law before parliament had gutted the proposals.

In particular, Mr Shearing said the police board, which was supposed to make the new force accountable, had had its powers to investigate wrong-doing and its budget limited.

The British government insists that it has done its best to stick to the essence of the Patten proposals, but the reforms have become a bargaining chip in a wider political process and the danger is that attempts to satisfy both sides could end in pleasing neither.