Vol. 476 No. 5
13 Dr. O'Hanlon asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if he has satisfied himself that all necessary steps are being taken to avoid a repetition of the incidents at Drumcree last year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7544/97]
19 Mr. B. Ahern asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the meetings, if any, he has had with Northern groups or community or church leaders with a view to averting trouble in the coming marching season. [2760/97]
25 Miss Harney asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement on the report of the North Review of Parades and Marches in Northern Ireland. [2927/97]
35 Mr. B. Ahern asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if he has satisfied himself with the level of progress and decisions announced in the implementation of the North report, in view of the approach of the marching season. [5813/97]
40 Dr. O'Hanlon asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if he has requested the British Government to implement all the recommendations of the North Commission; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7545/97]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 13, 19, 25, 35 and 40 together.
I discussed the prospects for this year's marching season and ways in which the potential for a repetition of the events of last summer could be averted with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland at the Anglo-Irish Intergovernmental Conference on 12 March last. As I made clear in my remarks after the conference, both Governments are anxious to ensure that everything possible should be done to defuse the situation and are convinced that this should be done through dialogue and reasonable compromise.
I have had meetings recently with representatives of the communities and residents' groups most directly concerned with the parades issue. For example, I met with a delegation of representatives from a number of residents' groups on 26 February last. We discussed their views on the North Report and on the prospects for this year's marching season. I also took the opportunity to commend and encourage the commitment of residents' groups to pursue every available opportunity for dialogue and local accommodation.
The Government made clear on this, as on many other occasions, its belief that local dialogue and agreement, based on mutual respect and accommodation, is the best way to resolve contentions arising from parades. It is the Government's earnest hope that local agreement and accommodation will yet emerge as factors which both ease tensions and point the way towards a peaceful resolution of the parades issue.
The Government's position on this fully accords with the views of the overwhelming majority of both communities in Northern Ireland. According to the public attitude surveys carried out as part of the consultations undertaken by the North Review, 97 per cent of Catholics and 83 per cent of Protestants agree that negotiated accommodation should be sought in disputes between residents and marchers.
These views should serve as the guiding lights in the response of all those in positions of responsibility and leadership on how to handle disagreements between parade organisers and residents. While there are disturbing signs of confrontation, there are also some encouraging signs that those most directly involved in the parades issue, including in the Orange Order, are heeding the views of the people in Northern Ireland and are seeking to defuse the tensions likely to lead to confrontation this summer. Individuals and groups are engaging in the difficult and complex process of dialogue and mediation. They deserve support and encouragement by all those in a position to offer it.
The Government's commitment to dialogue and agreement is reflected in its support for the core recommendation of the report of the North Review of Parades, the establishment of an independent body to mediate, arbitrate and, if necessary, issue determinations on contentious parades. I have made clear on a number of occasions our disappointment with the British Government's decision to proceed, for the moment, with only the non-adjudicatory aspects of the report. We have repeatedly pressed the British Government to establish without delay the independent parades commission as recommended by the North Review.
This was reflected in the communiqué issued at the close of the Anglo-Irish Intergovernmental Conference on 12 March, which makes clear that the Irish Government urged immediate implementation of the report's recommendations, in particular the powers of determination proposed for the parades commission.
The potential of the parades issue to destabilise the situation means that responsibilities on this issue go beyond the necessary dialogue we wish to see between marching organisations and residents associations. Northern Ireland remains a divided society. In the absence of a political settlement, responsibility rests with the British authorities. The authorities need to take all appropriate steps to ensure the pre-eminence of the rule of law in the months that lie ahead.
The ongoing protests at Harryville are an affront to all decent people. Their toleration by the authorities appears to be a calculation that it is the lesser of two evils, yet it is appalling that the community's right to attend Mass in their parish church can only be exercised by running a gauntlet of abuse, menace and violence.
What is normally the first march of the season is due to take place at Easter on the Lower Ormeau Road. The violence which marred that event last year was seen as a portent of things to come, and so it proved, but it was not inevitably so. Time to reach agreements is certainly becoming a diminishing resource. It must be used as productively as possible by all those concerned to avoid another summer of conflict and confrontation and the consequences which threaten to flow from that.
I hope those who have the best interests of the people of Northern Ireland at heart will prevail and that the wishes of the vast majority are realised by a summer in which local agreements on contentious parades are brokered, determinations in the absence of such agreement are issued and respected and, above all, the rule of law emerges as the anchor on which peace and stability rests.
We all share the view that the way forward is through dialogue and reasonable compromise. Will the Minister gauge the sincerity of the public attitude surveys against the decision made last night by the Orange Order in a case where there had been dialogue and reasonable compromise? Does that augur well for the 1997 marching season?
The public attitude surveys speak for themselves. The overwhelming body of opinion in Northern Ireland is in favour of mediation and compromise, at local level if possible. The decision announced last night is regrettable. One was feeling relatively optimistic that agreement could be reached on the ground. I would not give up hope that that can be achieved in the time remaining.
Dialogue with the communities is the way forward, and the Minister has met the communities, as have those of us on this side of the House. We want the Orange Order to enter into dialogue with the local communities. Approximately 3,000 parades are held each year, only 20 or 25 of which are a source of conflict. One of those is the one that was discussed last night and, apparently, it will now become a source of conflict. Regarding Drumcree, it has become a matter of principle for the Orange Order that they parade and are seen to dominate the Nationalist community within the town of Portadown. Will the Minister again encourage the British Government to bring forward the independent commission in order that the problems at Drumcree will not be repeated, because it will be a recipe for disaster for this whole island if there is a third incident in Drumcree? Portadown has parades every weekend through the marching season. The parade at Drumcree is merely a blatant assertion of supremacy. I ask that action be taken to ensure there is compromise. Nobody is against the Orangemen parading, but let them parade on an agreed route.
There is general agreement on the necessity for compromise. What is unacceptable is the process whereby one community apparently wishes to exercise dominance over the minority community. We have expressed our regret and disappointment to the British Government that it did not set about implementing the North report as a matter of urgency. It has set up a consultative process. I can only hope that after the election the incoming Government will take it upon itself to implement the report's recommendations as a matter of urgency, because time will be of the essence.
It is late already.
It is. We have emphasised time and again that it is not in the interests of either community or of community relations in Northern Ireland to have a repeat of what happened last summer. Anybody who witnessed what happened last summer will be well aware of how close Northern Ireland was to the edge of the abyss. People should learn from what happened last summer. That will require compromise and leadership, and I hope the leadership of political parties in Northern Ireland will play a constructive role this summer rather than the destructive one they played last summer.
The Minister has rightly expressed disappointment at the Orange Order's intervention in regard to a local march, but what dialogue or engagement are the Minister or the Taoiseach having with the Prime Minister, Mr. John Major, or with Sir Patrick Mayhew on this matter? Is there not a danger because of the pending election in May and the reality that John Major and his party will be campaigning, that the situation will drift? We on this side of the House are concerned that the Irish Government is not being proactive on a daily basis in ensuring that trouble does not arise. If it is allowed to drift there is clearly grave potential for danger for everybody concerned.
I do not see us allowing the situation to drift. The matter of parades was discussed in detail at our meeting in Iveagh House last Wednesday. The Taoiseach had discussions with the Prime Minister last week and this was very much part of the agenda. We have the machinery of the Anglo-Irish Conference at which to raise this matter constantly. Despite the fact that, as of yesterday, there was an announcement of an election in the UK, Government responsibility remains with the Government and it has to take heed of the risks that are evident in Northern Ireland in relation to the forthcoming Easter Monday parade.
The Minister says that the matter of parades was the subject of discussion between the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister. It was the subject of discussion between himself and Sir Patrick Mayhew at last week's meeting of the Anglo-Irish Conference. Will the Minister give me one example of a concrete step that has been taken arising from those discussions that will make an impact on the streets in the months ahead? There is talk, talk, talk. What we want is action.
Has the Deputy anything particular in mind?
The Minister made the point. He is the Minister. I am asking the questions.
We have availed of the opportunities afforded by the discussions between the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister and by the Anglo-Irish Conference to outline our views, and I believe there is at least a far better understanding by the British Government, the Secretary of State and the Prime Minister of the risks involved, the urgency and the necessity for the British Government, irrespective of the fact that an election will take place on 1 May, to ensure that everything is done to avoid a recurrence of what happened last year in Northern Ireland. Ultimately the responsibility rests with them.
How can the Minister say that when the independent commission has not been appointed?
I concur with the Minister and express my regret at the decision of the Orange Order, specifically the Orange Lodge in Dromore to reverse its original decision to have a compromise. Would the Minister agree it is encouraging that such a sizeable element of Orangemen wanted to compromise? Is that not an improvement on the situation in the past?
It is an improvement. I am not sure whether the Deputy was here when I outlined the survey figures on the public attitude in Northern Ireland to parades, but it reflects that the vast majority of people on both sides of the divide, 97 per cent of Catholics and 83 per cent of Protestants, are in agreement that a negotiated accommodation should be sought in disputes between residents and marchers. I welcome the fact that many of the Unionist community in Northern Ireland want to see an accommodation arrived at and to avoid the disruption to civil society that took place last summer. There is a huge responsibility on political leaders in Northern Ireland to help and not to add fuel to the fire.
To come back to the discussions between the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister and between the Minister and his opposite number, Sir Patrick Mayhew, at the Anglo-Irish Conference, I asked if even one concrete step had been taken on securing peace during this marching season. The Minister tells me that, as a result of those discussions, there is a greater understanding on the British side of the danger of another marching season like last year's. After last year, when 6,000 plastic bullets, etc., were fired on one weekend, surely it did not take discussions between the Taoiseach and the Prime Minister and between the Minister and Sir Patrick Mayhew for the British Government to come to an understanding of the danger. Is the Minister seriously suggesting that the best he and the Taoiseach have achieved is to get the British Government to be aware that there is a problem when Orange marches are not allowed through Catholic areas that results in the burnings, mayhem and blocking off of streets by Orangemen in Northern Ireland that we saw last year? Is he seriously suggesting that is all that has been achieved? It is evidence of the British Government's recognition of the efforts of the Taoiseach and the Minister that it refuses to implement the recommendation of the North Commission to establish an independent commission.
From his experience of Anglo-Irish relations, the Deputy will be aware that there are two sovereign Governments dealing with one another. We can make proposals within the Anglo-Irish Agreement, but a decision has to be made. We have voiced our strong views that the North Commission report should be implemented without further delay. The Deputy is aware of the decision that was taken by the British Government to set up a consultative process. We felt that the consultative process was over and that it would be in the interests of both Governments and communities in Northern Ireland that the British Government should immediately set about implementing the North report recommendations on parades.
The tragedy is that this Government is incapable of persuading the British Government to move on any issue.
Deputy Burke knows his own and Fianna Fáil's record on Northern Ireland. They caused many problems over the years.
We brought about the three strand talks, which is more than this Government achieved.
