For Unionist Protestants, the symbolic proposals may hurt the most. The RUC would be renamed the Northern Ireland Police Service; the British flag would no longer hang outside police stations, and pictures of the queen would disappear from station reception areas. The report also wants to treble the number of Roman Catholics on the force over the next 10 years.
The report comes at a delicate moment. Former U.S. senator George Mitchell last week began his review of the peace process amid few signs of intercommunity good will. But the proposals have already won the endorsement of Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Irish counterpart Bertie Ahern. Commented Chris Patten, the former governor of Hong Kong, who drew up the report: “I’d ask [the critics] this: what’s their alternative ?” The price of peace is change.
