Richard Haass Returns

Dr Richard Haass returns to Belfast today to continue his cross-party work to resolve issue surrounding parades, emblems and the past in Northern Ireland.

Today he returns to two weeks of negotiations aimed at reaching his self-imposed end-of-year deadline to find a way to resolve contentious issues in Northern Ireland.

Last week, the US peace envoy brought up the idea of a new Northern Ireland flag, asking how such an emblem could be designed and validated and what role it would play in civic life.

Dr Haass will meet with the Alliance Party today at 13:00 at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast, as the talks continue.

Issues surrounding parading and flags have flared up since a Belfast City Council decision to limit the flying of the union flag on top of City Hall on 03 December last year.

Since that decision, loyalist protests have been ongoing, some of which have had a detrimental impact on city centre trade.

Speaking regarding the appointment of Richard Haass in September, CBI Northern Ireland Chairman Ian Coulter said: "The next 12 months has the potential to steer Northern Ireland in a whole new direction, politically, socially and economically.

"I am very impressed by Dr Richard Haass and his team but there are two real challenges here – not letting the Talks be dominated by how we treat the past and how we properly plan for our economic future.

"The implementation on the ground of whatever consensus reached through Haass will be the real hard yards and this is where the economy kicks in.

"For our shared future to work there must be a shared responsibility to make it work economically – and the UK government has a front and central role to play here. A failure by the UK government to provide our politicians with the transformative economic tools they have asked for will be like sending batsmen out to the crease to play with a broken bat."

(IT/CD)