Daily parades meetings planned
Tuesday February 09 2010
Daily meetings are to be held to find a way forward on controversial Orange Order parades, the Executive has announced.
A working group of six Assembly members from Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) held its first discussions at Stormont on Tuesday, with a deadline for negotiations later in the month.
Sinn Fein MLA Gerry Kelly said a schedule of work had been agreed in a "business-like" atmosphere.
"We have not said that we will sort out the issue of contentious parades in two or three weeks, we will try to put together a structure that will make it easier," he added.
"It has to be sorted out between the residents and the people who march in those areas, making dialogue and resolution easier.
Nationalist residents in north Belfast and Portadown, oppose Orange Order processions past their houses because they see them as triumphalistic.
Members of the loyal orders accuse householders of going out of their way to be offended and maintain it is their traditional right to demonstrate on the streets.
The government-appointed Parades Commission has been criticised by unionists for barring processions in the past.
The parades working group has been criticised by the nationalist SDLP for not including the other parties and non-political experts. Mr Kelly, a junior minister in the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, said they planned to involve other "stakeholders" but were reporting to the First Minister Peter Robinson and deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness.
Lagan Valley DUP MLA Jeffrey Donaldson said a resolution of the issue was essential to build public confidence. "We will stick with the timetable agreed at Hillsborough, we want to get agreement in principle on how we move the parades issue forward," he added.
