Select Committee on Northern Ireland Affairs Minutes of Evidence


Memorandum submitted by the General Committee of the Apprentice Boys of Derry

  The Apprentice Boys of Derry welcomes the decision of the Select Committee on Northern Ireland Affairs to review the Parades Commission. As you are aware from earlier correspondence, it has been the view of the Association that the Select Committee is the proper place for such a review. We anticipate that you and your colleagues will take the time to properly consider the work of the Parades Commission. The timing of your announcement enables you to take a view through the coming months, and most importantly over the period of the summer, to assess the Commission's performance in the context of its objectives.

  We would also very much welcome the opportunity to meet with the Select Committee and discuss our views on the Parades Commission. We believe that the validity of the comments that were made in the wake of the Parades Commission's review of itself, which resulted in amendments to the relevant Statutory Instruments just before Parliament recessed last summer, remain broadly relevant in principle. Our submission to the NIO's review of the Parades Commission updates our earlier comments and summarises key points on what we believe a review of the Parades Commission ought to be addressing. An ABOD press statement on the NIO review is attached for your information[4].

  We are only aware of a press statement being issued as the report following the NIO review. The generalities of alleged ownership do not seem to have been borne out by the subsequent reaction to the central proposition of that report. Early introduction of human rights legislation is something to which "everyone" is meant to have agreed, even though the ABOD never mentioned the subject and was never asked for an opinion on the subject.

  This letter outlines issues that we feel we might be addressed by the Select Committee's review.


BACKGROUND

  The Apprentice Boys of Derry remains of the opinion that the North Report on which the current "Parades" Legislation is based is deeply flawed and offensive to Protestant culture. On this basis the Parades Commission itself operates within an environment that is deeply political and unwelcome within our community. That being said, the Apprentice Boys of Derry has always taken a position that it will abide by the law and respect the legal authority of the Parades Commission.

  In 1999 the Parades Commission itself undertook a review of its Statutory Instruments, in respect of the Code of Conduct, procedures and guidelines. The Apprentice Boys took that opportunity to present its comments on the Commission, its performance and the changes that it proposed in its "consultation" document. (A copy of this submission was forwarded to the Select Committee for your attention at the time of issue).

  The comments made in that submission, in the Spring of 1999, and in the subsequent submission to the NIO in Autumn of 1999, relate solely to the issue within the current legislative framework. That is the basis on which this submission is also being made. The ABOD would wish to have a separate opportunity to submit comment on the primary legislation if this were the substantive framework to be placed under public or private review at some time in the future. It is our understanding that this is not currently up for review.

There has already been a Parades Commission review in 1999. We believed that to be ill-advised and premature. The NIO review six months later was unnecessary, self-serving and ultimately superficial

  The Apprentice Boys of Derry would certainly take issue with the progress and conduct of the consultation process of the Parades Commission review that resulted in the Government providing necessary, and, scarce, Parliamentary time for amendments to the legislation. At the time of the Parades Commission's review we questioned whether, with less than one full year of operation, it was proper to make substantial changes to the Statutory Instruments on the basis of the Commission's very limited experience.

  One of the changes made in July was to give the Commission a more defined mission in respect to "supporting mediation". The changes to the Procedural Rules were made towards the end of the greater number of parades during the summer. It seems odd, therefore, that there should now be a further review announced by the NIO again focused on the mediation aspects of the Parades Commission's role before the Commission has been able to prove the validity of the changes it initiated. Odder still that mediation barely ranked a mention in the outcome of the NIO review.

The Apprentice Boys of Derry believe that an unstable legislative and regulatory framework is unhelpful

  A legal framework that is under constant threat of review is only likely to create conditions for further obstacles in the path of genuine efforts towards resolution of local issues. Uncertainty means that continuity and carefully moulded building blocks could all too easily be undermined by political activity that plays to wider audiences that have no useful part to play in resolution or accommodation in local situations.

The role of mediation sits uneasily with its remit as a quasi-judicial body

  The Apprentice Boys of Derry has difficulty in the remit of the Parades Commission having been changed to strengthen its role of mediation. While there may be circumstances that this role may arise, for whatever reason, it should not be a primary role. There is no single way to resolve issues that arise in respect of parades. Our experience is that every single circumstance is unique to the local area and people involved. The Apprentice Boys' experience in Londonderry is very different to Apprentice Boys' experience in Belfast, or elsewhere.

  The public opinion polls that were so conveniently used by the Parades Commission to push the cause of dialogue before the summer also showed the lack of credibility of the Commission in its determinations. Being both poacher and gamekeeper is a difficult act to sustain and it is certain to cause problems, impacting adversely on one role or the other. It is the role of adjudicator that seems to be the one that it can most easily fulfil given the Commission's lack of exposure to local circumstances. Mediation, and the choice of mediator, should be a matter on which the parties should agree. Our experience is that either local links, or objective individuals who are respected by both parties, serve as the best channels for discourse, and that there is often not the obvious and not the direct tone of communication that some would first expect.

While a determination is binding in law it must be seen to be fairly upheld

  While a number of legal cases are pending or are in due process with respect to Apprentice Boys parades in Londonderry and Belfast during the summer, none have yet been concluded, nine months after the events. This creates an air of mistrust in due process and a sense that political factors are at play.

  It makes it harder for the leadership of the Apprentice Boys to say "abide by the law" when the law seems to be so ineffective, even reluctant, in its pursuit of bringing to court and expediting cases speedily and properly. It also puts into question the strength behind the determination of other legal authorities to support the work of the Parades Commission.

The words and terms of the Statutory Instruments are too vague

  The Apprentice Boys believes that many of the words and terms in the Parades Commission remit are too vague to carry unequivocal meaning and therefore are difficult to follow, or to be followed, as they remain open to interpretation. Again this results in a lack of clarity that breeds various interpretations and leads to everyone and no-one being able to state with confidence where they stand in respect to the law.

IN SUMMARY

  At the risk of repetition, I cannot better phrase our own position than by using the form of words that concluded our 26 February submission[5]. To the ABOD the reviews of the Parades Commission are missing the central point, that the forces behind the antagonism towards the Loyal Orders are not capable of being addressed by the Parades Commission or any quango. "(The parades issue) can only be resolved when the people of goodwill in an area are given the moral support of Government in the face of violence. In Londonderry this includes the need to ensure the cancer of petty crime and disorder is dealt with on a day to day basis (by all communities). While the Parades Commission can do little to improve matters, our own experience show that it has an inherent capacity to make matters worse". This last point is particularly relevant to the contribution of the Authorised Officers of the Parades Commission.

  The Apprentice Boys of Derry will not use this opportunity to ponder on whether there should or should not be a Parades Commission, is it or is it not properly constituted, is the legislation right or wrong? What we can say is that whether a Parades Commission exists or not, the core issues will remain for some time. The Apprentice Boys will continue to constructively and positively address these issues as we did before the Parades Commission and as we will do so whether or not the Commission exists, or in whatever shape or form the Parades Commission might take if it survives.

  I hope our comments and points are given some attention in this review. Whatever the best intentions there is always the possibility that changes in an already unstable environment can result in things being made very much worse. It has been suggested in recent days that politicians might be part of the solution. The Apprentice Boys believes that it has been the hijacking of the "parades issue" into a wider political arena that has caused a deepening of divisions in our society. Whatever options are considered in the future, placing politicians on the Parades Commission is not an option that the Apprentice Boys would at all welcome.

  The Apprentice Boys believes that continuity and certainty are the most valuable contributions that a legislative and regulatory environment provides. That has neither been shown in the outcomes of the previous reviews, in the conduct of the previous Parades Commission, or in the recent appointments to the Parades Commission.

22 April 2000

PRESS INFORMATION: 13 MARCH 2000

  Alistair Simpson, Governor, Apprentice Boys of Derry, comments on the recent review of the Parades Commission by the NIO:

    Alistair Simpson states: "A second review within less than six months of changes to Statutory Instruments that guide the Parades Commission seems odd. A review by faceless individuals, and a report that amounts to no more than a few bullet points on the end of a press release, hardly lends credibility to the supposed outcomes of civil service diligence. The "all sides" and "everyone" of the release inappropriately seeks to include the ABOD as sharing the views of the Report's outcome".

  "The Apprentice Boys of Derry continues to believe that the only credible review of the Parades Commission is through a Parliamentary enquiry. As a purportedly independent body, the Parades Commission is accountable only to Parliament. At the time of the Parades Commission's self-analytical, and internalised, review last Spring the ABOD stated its belief that the Northern Ireland Select Committee was the proper, and only credible, forum for a review of the Parades Commission. The Apprentice Boys of Derry remains of that view".

NOTES

  The Apprentice Boys of Derry made a submission to the review of the Parades Commission by the NIO. These focused on a number of key points. These were, in summary:

    —  The Apprentice Boys of Derry remains of the opinion that the North Report on which the current "Parades" legislation is based is deeply flawed and offensive to Protestant culture. On this basis the Parades Commission itself operates within an environment that is deeply political and unwelcome within our community. That being said, the Apprentice Boys of Derry has always taken the position that it will abide by the law and respect the legal authority of the Parades Commission.

    —  There had already been a Parades Commission review in 1999. The ABOD believed that the first was ill-advised and premature. The Statutory Instruments were amended in August 1999 the purpose of amending the role with respect to mediation—apparently a key factor behind the announcement of the need for a further review in October. The Apprentice Boys believes that an unstable legislative and regulatory framework is only likely to create further obstacles to purposeful resolution of local issues.

    —  That the role of mediation (expanded upon in August 1999 through amendment to Statutory Instruments) sits uneasily with the Parades Commission's remit as a quasi-judicial body. The words and terms of the Statutory Instrument remain vague and lack the clarity to enable anyone to state with confidence where they stand with respect to the law, relying only on the interpretation of the Commission.

    —  The submission concluded: "Whatever the best intentions there is always the possibility that changes in an already unstable environment can result in things being made very much worse . . . The Apprentice Boys repeats that continuity and certainty are the most valuable contribution that any regulatory framework must provide".


4   Ev p 53. Back

5   Evidence not reported. Back


 
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