There is no doubt that the Parades Commission has become an impediment to dialogue by acting in an arbitrary and inconsistent manner. \u00a0This may because the Commission is caught between it\u2019s regulatory responsibilities, its inability to understand that it has no \u2018public order\u2019 role, and the tendency to accept advice or comment coming directly from politicians (or the NIO) as being of greater importance than the facts before them in a particular and local case.<\/p>\n
<\/span>It often seems that the last issue to be considered by the Parades Commission is the particular parade under consideration.<\/p>\n Of course the Parades Commission is operating in a context that is highly politicised; though it is meant to be outside \u2018political considerations, that idea was dashed when a parade on the Ormeau Road was denied in deference to the \u2018Peace Process\u2019 <\/a>– which looked like not placing responsibility on republicans not to riot. The \u2018political process\u2019 has been elevated to over-write all other considerations and the consequent political interference or indifference with respect to parades has been to the detriment of the Rule of Law. No better example of that is the absolute breakdown in authority evident in violence across Northern Ireland in the week of the 12th<\/sup> July 2010.\u00a0 Politics and police just stood there taking the abuse and with little evidence of a longer-term response.<\/p>\n While parading by the Orange Order may have provided a context at the 12th, there was little evidence that the July rioters cared deeply whether the Orange Order paraded or not.\u00a0 The principal battle for hearts and minds is being played out in the Republican\/nationalist communities \u2013 violence in Lurgan and Londonderry, and elsewhere, was pure thuggery to demonstrate that Sinn Fein\u2019s support for the devolution of policing means little on the streets. The new Republicans on the block have learned well from those who similarly brought anger to the streets in the past: a progression from one generation to the next.<\/p>\n Meanwhile a review of legislation on parades and protest is on-going. The OFMDFM consultation<\/a> is now the seventh review of the Parades Commission since its inception.<\/p>\n From the outset the Parades Commission was an unparalleled and unwarranted interference with the peaceful expression of a people\u2019s culture and had significant potential to undermine of the Rule of Law. There is no moral or human rights justification for political and legal interference with cultural expression: quite the contrary.\u00a0 Trade Unionists claim the limitation within the OFMDFM paper are unique in Europe forget that they failed to raise a voice on the Parades Legislation which was similarly unique and intolerant.<\/p>\n Since the inception of the Parades Commission there has been a clear admission by Republicanism of a planned process to use the issue of parades for political advantage<\/a>.<\/p>\n