Birth and troubled life of commission
Irish News
30/10/09
1997: The Parades Commission was established following an RUC decision to allow the Orange Order to march down the predominantly nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown, Co Armagh
1999: The commission carried out a four-month review following complaints from nationalists and unionists
2000: Garvaghy Road resident Evelyn White took a legal challenge on the grounds the Parades Commission was not fairly representative of both communities. The application was dismissed
2007: Former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown began a review of the Parades Commission after complaints had been received from both unionists and nationalists
April 2008: An interim report recommended that the commission disappear and its functions be handed to a panel appointed by politicians
October 6 2009: Details of a DUP ‘wish list’ were leaked to the media including a call for the scrapping of the Parades Commission. The party made no official comment
October 7 2009: Sinn Fein released a statement criticising several items on the ‘wish list’ but when questioned the party would not say whether the parades body was on the talks table
October 27 2009: Peter Robinson told the House of Commons that the Parades Commission must be abolished before policing and justice powers are devolved.
'So venceremos, beidh bua againn eigin lá eigin. Sealadaigh abú.'
--Bobby Sands