Northern Ireland First Minister Mr David Trimble said today that the Northern Ireland Parades Commission should not have the final say on whether contentious marches should go ahead.
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The Ulster Unionist leader told a committee of MPs that the Northern Secretary and the RUC Chief Constable should have the power to overrule decisions by the Parades Commission.
Mr Trimble in whose constituency the controversial Drumcree parade takes place in Portadown every year, told the House of Commons Northern Ireland Affairs Committee that the commission tended to give nationalist residents' groups a veto over whether Orange Order parades could go ahead.
He told the committee, chaired by former Northern Ireland Secretary Mr Peter Brooke: "I am not sure we would want to have the powers in a commission at all.
"Those issues are so important they should be with the chief constable, the Secretary of State or the courts rather than to have a commission that does not have an Executive role.
"If it is considered that there has to be a commission, then at the very least I think that there should be a par with the secretary of state to review a decision."
Mr Trimble outlined his role in efforts to mediate between rival sides in the Drumcree dispute in recent years.
The Ulster Unionist leader said he understood the reluctance of Orange Order leaders to speak to residents groups because of their suspicion that Republicans were engaging in an orchestrated campaign to create marching controversies.
However he said he supported Orange Order leaders engaging in dialogue with the commission and members of the local community if it would help their case.
Mr Trimble said the Parades Commission could fulfil its role as a judge of whether marches should go ahead and as a body that facilitated attempts to mediate between rival sides.
He argued that the Commission had often elevated its role as a determinator of marches over its role as a facilitator for dialogue.
PA