THE announcement by the Northern Ireland Secretary, Sir Patrick Mayhew, of proposed legislation to implement some of the less controversial recommendations of the North Report on parades and marches has met with a mixed reaction.
The Public Order (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order would increase the period required for notification of a parade or procession from seven to 21 days and introduce new controls on alcohol at parades. Where organisers gave less than 21 days' notice, they would be required to give an explanation.
The Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, welcomed "these early steps", which she claimed had been taken under pressure from the British Labour Party. "Labour will continue to harry the government from now until the election to ensure that as many as possible of the North recommendations are put in place."
Commenting on the proposed 21-day rule, Mr George Patton of the Orange Order told Radio Ulster: "I would personally be opposed to it on the basis of civil liberties. It appears to me that it is not really aimed at the Orange institution as such because everyone's aware of when our traditional parades are going to take place ...
The chairman of the Alliance Party, Mr Steve McBride, said the proposed measures, though not unwelcome, were close to irrelevant: "The government has missed a crucial opportunity in failing to implement the substance of the North Commission's report in time for those recommendations to have some prospect of having a positive influence on events this summer," Mr McBride said.
Mr Gerry Kelly of Sinn Fein said the requirement to give 21 days' notice of a parade seemed to be "an attempt to curtail spontaneous protest marches which mainly emanate from the victim communities". Mr Kelly claimed giving the RUC more powers, if only to confiscate alcohol, would "exacerbate the situation rather than address the causes of the problem".
On the North Report recommendation to set up a commission to decide whether parades should go ahead, Sir Patrick Mayhew told reporters: "I said in the House of Commons a week or two ago that we wanted to consult about that aspect of North's recommendations and the consultation period goes on until the end of March. Then we will make our minds up about that."