Belfast Telegraph, June 18, 2005
Tour of the North special: Lodges 'delighted' after commission climbdown
By Chris Thornton
ORANGEMEN said the Parades Commission made a "humiliating climbdown" last
night by promising more flexibility in a row over march applications.
The Commission made the move after the Belfast Telegraph revealed that the
Government's legal advisors believe an Orange protest - opposed by the
Commission - is legal.
The protest was organised because the Orange Order felt a lodge secretary
was prosecuted for a breach during a parade for which he was not responsible.
The protest, which caused concerns about a huge parade in East Belfast on
July 1, involved Orangemen refusing to name a single person as the organiser
of a parade on application forms.
Instead they appended several names and contact numbers to the forms.
The Parades Commission said that made the application defunct and the
parades illegal.
Police apparently agreed - questioning Orange Grand Master Robert Saulters
and other officials for taking part in a parade that took place with one of
the protest applications.
But earlier this week Security Minister Shaun Woodward told the House of
Commons that the Orange parades might be "still legal".
The Belfast Telegraph learned that he made the remark because government
legal advice has said the protest applications are legitimate.
Yesterday the Parades Commission said it "acknowledges the concerns that all
who are involved in the parading issues currently have in the completion of
the 11/1 application forms".
The Commission said that as the marching season approaches its peak, "the
Commission is determined to do its part to minimise contention and therefore
to use as much flexibility as the legislation allows to ensure that the
season passes off peaceably.
"To that end, the Commission will whenever possible make determinations on
those few contentious parades where it is involved.
"To do otherwise would be doing a disservice to those who want to enjoy
their summer peaceably."
The Orange Order said it was "delighted at this afternoon's humiliating
climbdown by the Parades Commission".
Raymond Spiers, Grand Master of the East Belfast district lodge, said: "This
isn't a case of the Parades Commission showing flexibility as they claim.
"The reality is that they have been sitting on legal advice for several
weeks which shows that we have been completing 11/1 notification forms
perfectly lawfully.
"Once again the Commission has demonstrated its ineptitude and total
unsuitability to regulate the sensitive issues surrounding parading.
"It is time members of this unelected and unloved quango that was
deliberately set up to criminalise Protestants did the decent thing and
resigned."
