The Orange Order today signalled its backing for parading proposals as part of a landmark deal to devolve law and order powers to Northern Ireland.
An overwhelming majority at the organisation’s quarterly meeting welcomed progress made through the joint Sinn Féin/Democratic Unionist plan.
The endorsement of the Orange institution is seen as crucial to the ultimate success of proposed reforms on how contentious marches are managed.
After a meeting of 120 members of the order’s Grand Lodge near Dungannon, Co Tyrone, Grand Master Robert Saulters said 95 per cent backed so far the parading aspect of the Hillsborough Agreement.
“We welcome the progress that has been made to bring legislation forward and publish a Bill and will make final comment when we see the Bill,” he said.
Mr Saulters added: “We reaffirm our concerns on civil and religious liberties for all and regret the campaign to deprive people of the right to freedom of assembly.”
The order’s central committee, which met on Monday, recommended rank and file give its tacit support for the proposed framework to resolve contentious marches.
The proposal was passed without amendment.
The new framework for marches was devised by a six-man Sinn Féin/DUP working group that was set up as part of the wide-ranging accord hammered out by Stormont’s two main parties at Hillsborough Castle, Co Down, last month.
The DUP’s three representatives in the group briefed the order’s central committee on Monday and it is understood the senior Orange representatives gave their proposals the thumbs up.
While details of the new management structures have not been made public, it is understood they are heavily influenced by a recent review of parades carried out by former Liberal Democrat leader Lord Ashdown.
Central to those was the axing of the current Parades Commission adjudication panel, with more emphasis placed on achieving localised resolutions.
The parades settlement is a key tenet of the Hillsborough Agreement, which has been credited with staving off the threatened collapse of the power-sharing government.
The deal sets out a series of inter-connected processes that will see justice powers devolved from London to Belfast in April and revised parading legislation placed on the statute by the end of the year.
The Grand Lodge meeting comes ahead of next week’s crucial vote in the Assembly on the proposed timetable for law and order transfer.
PA