Vol. 468 No. 4
35 Dr. O'Hanlon asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if he has ascertained whether it was the British Government or the RUC which were responsible for the decision to allow the Orange Parade through the Garvaghy Road on 11 July 1996; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15501/96]
The Deputy will be aware that in comments to the media after his decision to force the Orange parade down the Garvaghy Road on 11 July 1996, the RUC Chief Constable, Sir Hugh Annesley, asserted that the decisions in this matter were made solely by him on the basis of his operational assessment of the threat to public order. He further asserted that, while he kept the Secretary of State, Sir Patrick Mayhew MP, informed of relevant developments, there was no political interference with his decisions. The Chief Constable repeated this position in the course of his detailed account of recent events at the special meeting of the Anglo-Irish Intergovernmental Conference on 18 July 1996. He insists that the decision to put the Orange parade down Garvaghy Road on 11 July was his and his alone.
In my comments after the conference meeting I made clear that the Irish Government's main concern was with the grave consequences of this decision, irrespective of who precisely was involved in making it, and that I had made this concern very clear to the British side at the meeting. I also emphasised the need to ensure that there should be no repetition of the situation which arose from this decision which has caused such damage to Nationalist confidence in the impartiality of the security forces.
36 Mr. D. Ahern asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs when the Government was first informed of the changed decision by Sir Hugh Annesley, Chief Constable of the RUC and by the British Government in relation to the situation at Drumcree; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15550/96]
The Government was not informed in advance of the changed decision referred to by the Deputy. It remains a matter of concern to the Government that the structures and procedures of the Anglo-Irish Intergovernmental Conference were not availed of to the fullest extent possible by the British Government in relation to the recent situation at Drumcree and the Garvaghy Road.
The Government's concern about the lack of consultation and the implications of the decision itself was made clear in a number of statements which are on the public record and was immediately conveyed in the strongest terms to the British authorities through the framework of the Anglo-Irish Agreement. I conveyed it personally in the course of my discussion with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Sir Patrick Mayhew MP, at the special Anglo-Irish Intergovernmental Conference on 18 July 1996 convened at the Government's request.
