Debate contribution: Parades Commission: Public Confidence
Debate contribution by Ms Diana Armstrong on .
- MLA
- Ms Diana Armstrong
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 7 September 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Matter of the Day
- Heading
- Parades Commission: Public Confidence
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5669530
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I hope that every Member will join me in agreeing that Northern Ireland has come a long way in parading. Over the past decade, we have seen a substantial fall in objections, disputes and disorder. Parades take place in a more relaxed atmosphere with far less policing. That has been good for community relations and for our economy. Those gains were hard won, and none of us should take them for granted. That is precisely why what happened in the High Court matters so much. The Parades Commission conceded that its determination had not been considered in its final form by all its members. The judge said that the case did not stand up to any scrutiny at all. He spoke of "errors", "shortcuts" and "sloppy procedures", and correspondence disclosed to the court showed a commissioner describing mediation on the parade as a "non-starter" before a word had been exchanged. That commissioner has since resigned. The body restricts fundamental rights — freedom of assembly, freedom of expression and freedom of religion — and it does so for parades of every tradition in the House and none. If the process behind those decisions is not sound, that should trouble every one of us, whichever community we represent.
The Ulster Unionist Party welcomes the Secretary of State's decision to order an independent, judge-led review, but its terms of reference are too narrow. A review of processes and procedures alone will not answer the questions that people are asking. The review must examine the commission's culture, its working practices and its training. It must be empowered to recommend real reform, including a statutory right of appeal against determinations, because a body that reviews only itself has plainly failed. It must establish whether other determinations were affected by the same failure and must report publicly with a clear timescale for doing so. I say this to the Secretary of State: he has given the current commissioners his full backing, yet a fresh application will now be determined by the very body that has been found to have acted unlawfully on this last one. That is not a stable position: it risks public confidence and invites another court case within months. Fresh commissioners should be appointed and appointed promptly. He should also meet Portadown district, which took its case through the courts and was vindicated. This is a moment for calm heads. There is a lawful, orderly route through this. Our responsibility in the Chamber is to find it and resolve this dispute without creating others.
421 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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