Parades and Protests

Haass “asked the parties for confidentiality and to put forward their best team of negotiators…”

Pete Baker on September 4, 2013, 6:42 pm | Readers 63

The BBC reports that “it has emerged” Richard Haass has written to the Northern Ireland Executive parties ahead of the up-coming talks on parades, and other matters. Dr Haass, who is due to chair talks later this month, sent the letter after his mid-July visit to Belfast. He asked the parties for confidentiality and to put forward their best team of negotiators. Dr Haass also requested the parties answer a series of questions around the issues. The negotiations are to …

“that’s why Richard Haass needs proof – right from the start – that the will to construct a deal really does exist”

Pete Baker on August 26, 2013, 4:32 pm | Readers 72

Having abandoned their first, draconian, attempt to control regulate Public Assemblies, Parades and Protests, Sinn Féin and the DUP may now face a wider variety of emboldened dissenting voices in seeking compromise on the issue. Alex Kane has some advice for the incoming chair of the new, improved, working group on parades. From the News Letter article If I were Mr Haass I would gather all of the parties and assorted hangers-on around the table at 9am on the first Monday morning and …

The Men Who Won’t Stop Marching…

Belfast Gonzo on June 17, 2011, 6:49 pm | Readers 234

THE (restricted) Tour of the North parade gets under way in a few minutes. But if you don’t fancy getting wet, and still want to sample loyalist culture – in the safety of your own home no less – you could do worse than watch The Men Who Won’t Stop Marching. It’s one of the BBC’s Wonderland documentaries, and it’s absolutely fascinating to see the Shankill through the eyes of “Jordan, an eleven-year old aspiring drummer from one of the …

“Until such time as locally owned arrangements can be found…”

Pete Baker on December 20, 2010, 2:08 pm | Readers 12

Following the shelving of the Sinn Féin/DUP drafted Public Assemblies, Parades and Protests Bill, Northern Ireland Minister of State, Hugo Swire, announced “the launch of an open competition for appointment to the posts of chairman and members of the Parades Commission.” Today, as the BBC reports, Owen Paterson revealed the outcome of that competition. From the NI Secretary of State’s statement Secretary of State Owen Paterson MP today announced the appointment of Peter Osborne as Chair of the Parades Commission …

OFMDFM abandon Draft Public Assemblies Bill?

Pete Baker on September 27, 2010, 6:34 pm | Readers 11

The BBC report follows the lead given by the Northern Ireland First Minister, the DUP’s Peter Robinson, in blaming the Orange Order’s rejection of the proposals for the withdrawal of the draft Bill on Public Assemblies, Parades and Protests. But abandoning that Bill conveniently avoids the First and deputy First Ministers having to fulfill their commitment to deliver in legislation the agreed outcomes of that working group – and their special advisers… The legislation they proposed was, after all, “built on ignorance of the law, plain stupidity, arrogance, …

Owen Paterson: “It is absolutely not an option to leave a [Parades Commission] hole.”

Pete Baker on September 8, 2010, 1:45 pm | Readers 4

With the future of the DUP/Sinn Féin drafted Public Assemblies, Parades and Protests Bill currently uncertain the Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Owen Paterson, has told Parliament’s Northern Ireland Affairs Committee that if no new legislation was produced by the NI Assembly he will “reappoint a Parades Commission by January next year”. The draft Public Assemblies, Parades and Protests Bill has already been consulted on and is due to go through the Northern Ireland Assembly this autumn. It was drawn up following the report …

U-turn over Public Assemblies, Parades and Protests Bill?

Pete Baker on August 12, 2010, 11:47 am | Readers 14

The Northern Ireland First and deputy First Ministers have published a very short summary of the responses [pdf file] to the consultation on their jointly drafted Public Assemblies, Parades and Protests Bill [pdf file]. That’s the draft Bill “built on ignorance of the law, plain stupidity, arrogance, and worst of all, political expediency.” We’ll have to wait to see the detail of the reported amendments being proposed. But let’s be clear about one thing. When the First Minister says “The primary change …

“The bill is built on ignorance of the law, plain stupidity, arrogance, and worst of all, political expediency.”

Pete Baker on August 4, 2010, 4:24 pm | Readers 10

In his Irish News column this week Brian Feeney is mostly correct in his response to the, DUP/Sinn Féin drafted, contentious “Public Assemblies, Parades and Protests Bill“. Where he’s wrong is in his assertion that “The problem to be confronted under the terms of the Hillsborough Agreement was Orange marches – and only 5 per cent of them”. As I’ve pointed out previously, the Hillsborough Agreement actually tasked the working group on parades with attempting “to create a new improved framework …