Parade body appointments unlawful

Don MacKay (left) and David Burrows are prominent Orangemen

Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain's decision to appoint two prominent Orangemen to the Parades Commission has been overturned by the High Court.

Mr Justice Morgan said the appointments of David Burrows and fellow Orangeman Don McKay, who resigned from the body this week, were unlawful.

He said the appointments did not ensure membership of the body represented both sides of the community.

Mr Hain said he was disappointed at the ruling and was taking legal advice.

Mr Justice Morgan said he found the failure of the appointment panel members to recognise a potential conflict of interest "inexplicable".

He also said the case caused him to doubt whether the appointment panel members understood the nature of the task in which they were engaged.

'Legal advice'

The judge said there was no reason why Mr Burrows could not apply again.

He added: "I wish to make it clear that this judgement should not operate as any prohibition on the reappointment of Mr Burrows should the secretary of state so decide."

Soon after the judgement was announced, Mr Hain said he was "extremely disappointed" by it.

"The appointments to the Parades Commission were made in good faith and the new commission has been very successful at beginning to build trust and confidence, " he said.

I think what we have now is a completely contaminated commission - starting again with a clean slate would be a good idea Brendan MacCionnaith Garvaghy Road Residents Association

"I'm now taking legal advice over the judgement."

John Duffy, a resident of the nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown, went to the High Court last week seeking to overturn the appointment of Mr Burrows and Mr MacKay.

Garvaghy Road Residents Association spokesman Brendan MacCionnaith said on Friday that the case raised questions about the judgement of Parades Commission chairman Roger Poole.

"I think what we have now is a completely contaminated commission. Starting again with a clean slate would be a good idea," he said.

Mr MacCionnaith said there was a conflict of interest in having any member of the Orange Order or any member of a residents' group opposed to Orange parades on the commission.

"The Parades Commission is a tribunal and the people who sit on it should be completely independent: that rules out persons like myself as well as members of the Orange Order."

He said they would meet over the weekend to consider their formal response and whether to take further action.

References

Both Mr Burrows and Mr MacKay were members of the Portadown Lodge of the Orange Order which has been at the centre of the decade-long dispute surrounding what has become known as the Drumcree parade.

Mr MacKay resigned from the commission earlier this week after it emerged he had listed DUP MP David Simpson and SDLP assembly member Dolores Kelly as referees on his application form without asking their permission.

SDLP Upper Bann assembly member Dolores Kelly said the ruling confirmed that the appointments procedure used had failed to provide membership representative of the community.

"This whole debacle has been the NIO's fault and the ruling shows they acted unlawfully," she said.

"Instead of facing up to and rectifying their actions, they preferred to lash out at the SDLP and create more problems for themselves."

The Parades Commission was set up in by the government in 1997 to make decisions on whether controversial parades should be restricted.