Parades

12. Dr Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan): To ask the Taoiseach if he believes that a formula can be found which will avoid further confrontation during the marching season this year; and if he will make a statement.

An Taoiseach: I hope that the will now exists in Northern Ireland for this year's marching season to be conducted without the confrontation which has become a characteristic of this period over the last number of years.

The Parades Commission has now been established on a statutory basis with determining powers as recommended in the North Review of Parades and Marches. The Government have broadly welcomed the establishment of the Commission. At the same time, I am acutely aware of the negative reaction in the Nationalist community to recent appointments to the Commission. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. David Andrews, T.D., raised these concerns with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland at the most recent meeting of the Anglo-Irish Intergovernmental Conference on 5 March 1998.

For the Commission to succeed, it is essential that it approaches its task in an even-handed way and is seen, in its decisions, to be fair and impartial. As I have said previously, the real test of the Commission's fairness will be in its decisions.

A balance must be struck between the rights of those who wish to march and equally valid rights of the residents in the area through which they seek to march. The Government continues to believe that accommodations on contentious parades can most effectively be reached through local dialogue and agreement, based on mutual respect.