SINN Fein is to be invited to meet with the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) this autumn in a move designed to win party support for the force.

Peter Hain, the Northern Ireland secretary, will issue the invitation in a speech in Donegal this evening. “The PSNI and the government are ready to take part in a mature and sustained dialogue with the Sinn Fein leadership this autumn on any outstanding concerns about the change programme,” Hain will say.

The current Sinn Fein position is that it will not support the police service or take seats on the policing board until control of law and order is devolved to a local minister in the Stormont assembly. But the Democratic Unionist party is refusing to take part in an executive with Sinn Fein until it supports the PSNI and encourages its representatives to pass on information to police.

When the House of Commons rises on July 25 the Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, which allows for the devolution of policing, will pass into law. This will allow for co-operation between the police and Sinn Fein.

In recent weeks Hain has received intelligence reports that Sinn Fein and the IRA are moving towards practical acceptance of the PSNI. Today he will say: “I would strongly urge the republican leadership to draw a distinction between constitutional endorsement of the structures of policing and support for the practical service of policing in the community.

“There should be no part of Northern Ireland where people are not actively encouraged to report crimes to the police so that they can take action. There should be no community where elected representatives do not routinely talk to PSNI officers.”

Hain believes republican areas are caught in a “no man’s land” where IRA paramilitary policing no longer operates but the PSNI is not being given full support either.

The PSNI and Sinn Fein have been engaged in a slow courtship since Hugh Orde was appointed chief constable in 2002. Orde quickly gained the support of Irish-American decision makers who urged republicans to give him a chance.

Gerry Kelly, the Sinn Fein policing spokesman, met with police officers to ensure that last week’s contentious Orange Order parade past Ardoyne passed off peacefully.

Times Recommends

• Fish and chip shops ‘selling cobbler as cod’
• T in the Park festival at Kinross
• Body Watch