Daily talks planned at Stormont to end dispute over parades

Published on Tuesday 9 February 2010 22:01

DAILY meetings will be held to find a way forward on Northern Ireland's parading dispute, the government said yesterday.

A working group of six Assembly members from Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) held its first discussions at Stormont yesterday. It is tied to a tight deadline of later this month.

Sinn Fein MLA Gerry Kelly said a schedule of work had been agreed and the atmosphere was "business-like".

"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.

"We are not trying to bring forward some miracle."

Nationalist residents in mainly working-class areas like north Belfast and Portadown, Co Armagh, 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.

Following last week's Hillsborough Agreement, Sinn Fein and the DUP want a new system that will involve a greater emphasis on local accommodation. There were also calls for a better framework for mediation and a new system of adjudication.

The government-appointed Parades Commission has been criticised by unionists for barring Orange demonstrations like that at Drumcree, Portadown, from walking along the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road.

The parades working group has been criticised by the nationalist SDLP for not including the other parties and non-political experts.

Meanwhile, leaders from all five main parties met yesterday as part of a process of deciding who will be the first justice minister.