Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 4 Jul 1996

Vol. 468 No. 2

Written Answers. - Northern Ireland Marching Season.

Helen Keogh

Question:

44 Ms Keogh asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will report on representations made by him to support the initiative to establish an independent co-ordinating body to oversee the marching season in Northern Ireland. [14126/96]

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Spring)

As the Deputy is aware, I have previously welcomed the suggestion of an independent body to arbitrate on parades as an important contribution to the very necessary debate on parades and parade routes. I informed the House on 25 April last that the Government would support such a proposal but acknowledged that acceptability to the parties involved would be an essential condition for its success. I continue to believe that this proposal does not yet command sufficiently widespread support among those directly involved in the issue to say that it represents a solution to the problem. Let me add, however, that the proposal for an independent body is one of a number of matters relating to the parades issue which continue to be discussed with the British authorities through the framework of the Anglo-Irish Intergovernmental Conference.

The most recent meeting of the Conference on 22 May considered the outlook for this year's marching season. It called on all those involved in the planning of parades to exercise compromise and balance in the interests of the community as a whole. The Government hopes that as we approach the height of the marching season a repetition of the major confrontations which marred a small number of the thousands of parades which were held last year will be avoided. Such confrontations significantly increase community tensions throughout the whole of Northern Ireland and merely serve to deepen divisions and mistrust. They would be all the more regrettable at this time when the two Governments and political parties in Northern Ireland are involved in intense talks which have as their objectives the establishment of a lasting political settlement between the two traditions.

I will continue to urge the British Government, through the framework of the Intergovernmental Conference, to take steps consistent with the principle that parades should not take place in an area or along a route where they are not welcome. This principle reflects the rights both of the local residents to object to what they judge to be unwelcome parades and of those who wish to celebrate their heritage and identity by marching. I assure the Deputy that my Department monitors the situation closely and that we will explore fully all the avenues, including that of an independent tribunal or commission, which offer the best prospects of a peaceful and agreed solution to the parades issue in the longer term.