Parades Commissioner urges NI to seize opportunities of 2002

The Chairman of the Parades Commission has said that the year ahead provides the best opportunity for the people of Northern Ireland to come together to finally heal the running sore of contentious parades.

Parade Commission Chairman Tony Holland said people throughout the province must work together to find ways in which parades, which are a common source of conflict in Northern Ireland, can take place in the “absence of conflict”.

Mr Holland said: “Parades are not the sole preserve of the loyal orders, or residents’ groups, or bands. They impact on the whole of civic society here, society which has found ways of resolving seemingly much more difficult problems in the process of finding a peaceful and democratic future for Northern Ireland.

Mr Holland said that he welcomed the Parades Commission Review which is to be conducted by Sir George Quigley and which will get underway shortly. He stated that the Commission would seek to encourage the widest possible discussion and debate as part of the review.

Former Ulster Bank chairman Sir George Quigley was appointed by Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid to carry out the review of the Northern Ireland Parades Commission in November 2001.

The review of the parades commission, which makes decisions on whether controversial parades should be restricted, was promised by the government as part of a blueprint to break the political deadlock at the Weston Park negotiations in July 2001.

Mr Quigley’s review report, expected to be complete by August 2002 will go to the Secretary of State. Any recommendations for legislative change would not be implemented until after summer 2002.

Mr Holland said: “The Commission uses its adjudication powers to impose conditions on parades only when all else has failed and when people on the ground cannot agree among themselves. To that extent we are not there to resolve the parades issue on our own, but to pick up the pieces when things go wrong. The change we all need to achieve is to understand the causes of disagreement and then to work to a plan to resolve them. That involves everyone preferably acting at a local level – loyal orders, residents’ groups, bands and civic, church and business leaders. The Commission can help facilitate these discussions - and much prefers doing that to adjudicating. None of the stakeholders, and we all are stakeholders, should turn their back on the parades issue and leave it to others to solve.” (AMcE)