Parades legislation put on hold

Orangemen

The DUP leader Peter Robinson has said legislation to replace the Parades Commission has been put on hold after the Orange Order refused to review their decision to reject it.

The First Minister, Peter Robinson said it is now inevitable that the parades commission will be reappointed for another year

“I am disappointed by the outcome as considerable effort was made at Hillsborough to solve the issues around parades and protests.

“We had developed a new and improved framework to deal with parades.

“This framework was based on specifications outlined by the Orange Order,” he added.

Mr Robinson said the draft bill should have been submitted to the Executive by September, in order to be ready for January 2011.

The first minister said that the time frame has now been missed because the Grand Lodge, which met at the weekend, did not review its decision to reject the Bill.

He revealed he had written to the Grand Master on 15 September telling him the Bill would be left in abeyance until if, or when, the order decided to proceed.

Mr Robinson said the reappointment of the Parades Commission would “sadden many” within the orders as the Commission has proved to be “part of the problem rather than part of the solution” to parades disputes.

“I see no advantage in moving from one system which the Orange Order does not engage with to another which, at the present time, does not have its support, ” the minister said.

The original proposals were contained in the Draft Public Assemblies Bill and had been agreed by the DUP and Sinn Fein.

They were rejected by 37 votes to 32 by members of the Grand Lodge of Ireland in July.

The draft legislation focused on dialogue and a code of conduct for both residents and marchers. It also spelled the end of the Parades Commission.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

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