A lively policing debate turned into a war of words between Sinn Féin and the SDLP, further highlighting the stark divide between the parties on this crucial issue.
Throughout Thursday's Conway Mill discussion, chaired by Daily Ireland columnist Anne Cadwallader, the SDLP's Alex Attwood and Sinn Féin's Gerry Kelly concentrated in attacking the other party's stance on policing.
On the issue of accountability, Mr Kelly targeted the failure of the policing structures to fully adopt the recommendations of the Patten Report, and highlighted his party's endeavours to address the shortfalls.
Meanwhile, the SDLP policing spokesperson accepted that policing was not perfect but praised the current structures, particularly the work of the Police Ombudsman, saying, "I do not know what more can be done to ensure there is rigour and accountability."
Mr Attwood proceeded to accuse the republican party of reneging on public assurances they had given to support the new policing structures once a Policing Act was introduced.
"A Sinn Féin spokesperson in autumn 2002 said that when the policing bill is passed Sinn Féin will not be found wanting, but when it was passed they changed the goalposts and said that now the real issue is policing and the transferral of powers," said Mr Attwood.
In response, Mr Kelly criticised the SDLP for "jumping too soon" and undermining the bargaining position of nationalists in policing negotiations.
He said that the British government had informed Sinn Féin that the SDLP were reluctant for any further changes to the policing structures in the future as it would "embarrass the SDLP".
Unconvinced by the PSNI's even-handedness in dealing with nationalist and unionist areas, Mr Kelly recounted his own personal experience of the force's handling of a number of riots in North Belfast last summer.
"In Ardoyne it took 45 seconds to turn the water cannon on me – and I had been talking with to the PSNI for the previous ten hours. Then one week later, on the Woodvale Road, there were 10 hours of rioting where petrol bombs were used and vehicles damaged before they resorted to such measures."
As the discussion started to turn towards Community Restorative Justice, Anne Cadwallader intervened, insisting that this was a topic for another day.
The chair then asked the 50-strong audience for a show of hands on whether the opinions of anyone in the audience on policing had altered during the course of the debate. Unsurprisingly perhaps, not one hand was raised.
