THE BODY that rules on contentious marches in the North is to meet the First Minister and Deputy First Minister at Stormont tomorrow in advance of the climax of the marching season.
The talks between the Parades Commission and Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness may include discussion about last week’s serious rioting in east Belfast, which scarred the area for two consecutive nights and resulted in the shooting of three people as UVF and dissident republican gunmen returned to the streets.
Saturday’s annual Whiterock parade, which sparked serious trouble in previous years, passed off peacefully. However, further sensitive parades are looming, including this Friday’s “mini Twelfth” in east Belfast, and the Drumcree church parade in Portadown, Co Armagh.
A commission spokesman told The Irish Times the talks with Mr Robinson and Mr McGuinness were planned in advance of last week’s trouble in the Short Strand area of Belfast, which was described as the worst in a decade.
It is more likely the discussions will include the plan drawn up for the future of parading by the First Minister and Deputy First Minister last year, which were rejected by the Orange Order last July.
The situation has been one of stalemate between the Stormont Executive and the marching orders ever since. The Robinson-McGuinness proposals would have spelled the end of the Parades Commission in favour of a new mechanism. But, following rejection by the loyal orders, a new commission was named in January with a three-year remit.
The commission confirmed last night it has been consulting the main political parties and the public through a series of seven outreach meetings. Chairman Peter Osborne told BBC Northern Ireland he hoped the Orange Order would end its policy of refusing to engage with his organisation.
“I don’t think it does a service to the Orange institution that they don’t talk to everybody and they don’t engage with us. I think increasingly within the Orange family, I think people are frustrated at that and certainly the engagement we have with Orange institutions, with Orange parading organisations, would suggest that,” he said.
The Robinson-McGuinness proposals were drawn up after work by a six-strong team. It was agreed as part of the deal in Hillsborough last year securing the devolution of policing and justice powers.