Town's Orangemen are convinced report will lead to face-to-face talks but Garvaghy side is not so sure

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Town's Orangemen convinced report will lead to face-to-face talks
Simpson welcomes the Ashdown review but Kelly wants it scrapped
Powers of police and justice must be moved to Stormont says O'Dowd
District councils will have an initial role in setting up talks
Grand lodge happy to see the demise of parades group

A key paragraph in the recommendations by the review body - chaired by Lord Ashdown -says that if any party in a dispute is unwilling to enter talks, except in "exceptional circumstances", this will be taken into account "and it will count against them".

However, the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition says it is unimpressed with the recommendation.

In a statement Issued on Tuesday - the day the recommendations were published -the Coalition dismissed the entire findings as "only potential for political Interference and manipulation".

Inactive

The residents added: "We fear that the majority of proposals will lead to the pre-1998 situation (when the Drumcree parade went through), would re-ignite past tensions and create further inter-cummunal unrest during the marching season."

Darryl Hewitt, District Orange Master of Portadown, said: "We have been calling for face-to-face talks for years and the GRRC keep running for cover -and the Parades Commission has been equally inactive, safe in the knowledge that they will not be with us much longer.

"We have also consistently called for the winding-up of the commission, as it has been part of the problem, far from helping to solve it. This has been especially true in the case of Drumcree.

"At the height of the dispute, both the residents group and the commission called for face-to-face talks, but now that the Orange side is willing, both groups are actually a hindrance to such talks."

However, the coalition remains impervious to talks, and is dismayed that "the Strategic Review Body's report will politicise rather than de-politicise the marching issue".

Concerns

Breandan Mac Cionnaith of the GRRC said: "The report has opened the door for those who want to turn the marching issue into a political football, where political expediency will take precedence over valid human concerns.

"One only has to look at the sectarian history of Craigavon Borough Council, for example, to realise they should have no part to play in the decision-making at Drumcree." 2nd May 2008 Portadown Times

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Simpson welcomes the Ashdown review but Kelly wants it scrapped

The Orange-Green divide over parades comes into sharp focus with the DUP and SDLP reactions to Paddy Ashdown's interim Strategic Review of Parading.

Upper Bann MLA and MP David Simpson (DUP) gives the report a hearty welcome "especially the demise of the Parades Commission which has been a long-term goal of our party". Bui Dolores Kelly MLA (SDLP) describes the review as "damaging and dangerous and should be scrapped immediately".

Disputes

Mr Simpson said: "The Parades Commission is viewed in the unionist community as a symbol of nationalist cultural antagonism. Time and time again it has rewarded intransigence of nationalist residents' groups whilst re-buffing the genuine efforts of Loyal Order members to find accommodation in parades disputes. "One need only look to the situation in Drumcree, where the Orange Institution has repeatedly taken steps towards finding accommodation only to have them rebuffed by nationalists who in turn were rewarded by the Parades Commission for their bigoted stubbornness.

"The Fact that the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition and Lower Ormeau Residents Action Group are signalling their opposition to the Parades Commission being abolished speaks volumes about the commission and the commitment of the groups to resolve the issue."

Mrs Kelly commented: "The current framework for adjudicating on contentious parades through the Parades Commission is settled and working. !t goes against all logic to attempt to impose a complete overhaul of this system, and replace it with such a blatantly flawed model. "The plan to devolve some responsibility for parading to the Office of the First and Deputy Firs! Minister and to local councils flies in the face of experience. It brings the parading issue right Back to the centre of the political sphere were it can and will be manipulated for political advantage and leverage.

"These proposals are damaging and dangerous for the parading issue, for the communities it affects, and for political stability and delivery in the North. There was no need for this review in the first place. There is no need to implement its findings now." 2nd May 2008 Portadown Times

Powers of police and justice must be moved to Stormont as a first priority O'Dowd insists

Upper Bann Sinn Fein Assembly man lohn O'Dowd has insisted that any changes to the parades issue must be subject to "the successful transfer of power on policing and justice to the Stormont Assembly".

Mr O'Dowd added: "Sinn Fein will study the full findings in the autumn and respond to its recommendations then. It is clear is that the resolution of controversial marches will continue to operate within the current legislation and the

Parades Commission will retain its a central role in the meantime.

"Experience teaches us that the resolution of contentious parades lies in dialogue between host communities and the Loyal Orders. Such a process musi be central to any system of resolving these issues. The right to live free from sectarian harassment, enshrined in the Good Friday Agreement must be upheld.

"Consideration of key recommendations in this interim report is predicated on the transfer of power on policing and justice. Sinn Fein does not envisage a situation where OFM/DFM would consider taking responsibility for parades in the absence of this.

"The report does contain recommendations including a legally enforceable code of conduct. We will of course want to see the terms of such legislation before passing judgement on its potential effectiveness to curb abuses and sectarian harassment." 2nd May 2008 Portadown Times

District councils will have an initial role in setting up talks

The recommend a lions contained in the Strategic Review Body's recommendations published this week are more or less as expected, with district councils involved at the initial stages and the Nl Parades Commission due to be scrapped.

The findings of the body, chaired by Lord Paddy Ashdown, call for a key role for district councils in facilitating talks between opposing sides in the marching equation - and it has important connotations here, with the on-going Drumcree dispute.

Councils must be informed within 35 days of a proposed march and objections must be lodged within seven days.
If councils fail to facilitate talks, then the office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister at Stormont must appoint three adjudicators, one of whom will be qualified in law and will chair the panel, with the adjudicators drawn from an approved list.

Binding

If either side still refuses to enter face-to-face talks, that will count against them in the adjudication and the adjudication will be issued at least seven days prior to the proposed parade and will be legally binding.

It means that the Northern Ireland Parades Commission will be scrapped, although it will continue to adjudicate until me new order in brought in, after widespread consultation. The commission will adjudicate on the 2008 Drumcree parade issue, and there are unlikely to be face-to-face talks, with the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition resolutely refusing to meet representatives of the Portadown Orange District. 2nd May 2008 Portadown Times

Grand lodge happy to see the demise of parades group

The Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland has welcomed the Ashdown Report, and a Statement issued this week is endorsed by the Portadown District.

The statement says: "For the past number of years we have been making the case that the legislative framework governing parades is deeply flawed and has created more problems than it has resolved.

"We participated fully in the review, in partnership with the Royal Black Institution and the Independent Loyal Orange Institution.

"We welcome the fact that the recommendations include the establishment of a new legislative framework to govern not just parades but all public assemblies.

"We particularly welcome the fact that the recommendations signal the end of the discredited Parades Commission." 2nd May 2008 Portadown Times