The SDLP today warned that proposals to replace Northern Ireland's Parades Commission with two bodies could reignite the Drumcree marching dispute.
SDLP deputy leader Ms Bríd Rodgers denounced a report by former banker Sir George Quigley that proposes two new bodies instead of the commission - one to mediate over controversial loyalist and nationalists marches and the other to adjudicate.
In a vigorous defence of the Parades Commission, which has banned the controversial Drumcree march by the Protestant Orange Order since 1998, the Upper Bann MLA said her party believed the commission had "succeeded in greatly reducing tensions around the parading issue".
"Our message was: if it ain't broken, don't fix it. To disband a commission that has so significantly improved the situation and effectively put the onus of decision making back on the police would be sheer folly".
Sir George's review was called last year at the request of unionists who complained the Parades Commission was biased in favour of nationalists protesting against Orange marches.
His 300-page report, which was released yesterday for public consultation, proposed the establishment of a Parades Facilitation Agency to allow for talks between marchers and protesters. A separate three-member Rights Panel would also be set up to rule on human rights issues.
The Government established the Parades Commission to adjudicate on disputed marches in the wake of widespread violence caused by the annual Orange parade at Drumcree in Portadown, Co Armagh. But since the commission's creation in 1998, the Orange Order has refused to co-operate with it.
Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy said no changes to the present commission would be introduced until the 2004 marching season.Ulster Unionist David Trimble said Sir George had addressed his party's concerns that it was wrong to combine a mediation and adjudication role in one body.But the nationalist Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition, which has prevented Orangemen marching from Drumcree Church, criticised it.
PA