The Politics of Parading Spotlight

Saturday's parade to celebrate the centenary of the Ulster Covenant. A

march like no other, packed with pageantry. And police. 190 bands

and 20,000 people. It's around a third to 50% bigger than the 12th.

There were fears of trouble. But a collective sigh of relief when it

passed off without a major incident. At what cost, though? Tonight we

reveal the bill for this year's marching season. �6 million is far

too much money to spend on this area. At the heart of another tense

summer was a dispute over the behaviour of the Young Conway

Volunteers outside St Patrick's Catholic church in Belfast. We hear

exclusively from the band. Our band did nothing wrong. To the Catholic

community, it was an insult. disrespect is intended by any of

the marchers. People say they do not want to make this a contentious

route. It was a summer in which the Parades Commission, the body set up

to deal with contentious marches, left both sides angry. With less

than a year to go before the Commission has to be replaced, is

Northern Ireland any closer to finally sorting out the problem of

parades? The Parades Commission is not the way to solve this. In fact

there may not be a way to solve it. Thousands of people, united in

Belfast in the spirit of a century old pledge. They were celebrating

the Ulster Covenant. Pledging themselves to Britain as the men

and women of Ulster. And pledging to stay British. For Ulster's

Unionists, it's a birthright. years after all the troubles, the

IRA campaigns and internal tussles and differences between London and

Dublin, the fact they are still in the United Kingdom, they want to

celebrate that loudly and proudly. It was a big day for John Aughey.

Parading is in his blood. This one was as big as it gets. I am looking

forward to celebrating my heritage. It is probably bigger than Twelfth

of July in terms of the size of the parade. This is the hundredth

anniversary, let's hope there is a 100 anniversary. It's not just an

idea, or a folk memory for John. His family have a deep-rooted

connection with the Covenant. They have lived it. My two grandfathers

both signed the Covenant, but they both signed it for the same reason,

to reaffirm our position within the United Kingdom. I consider myself

to be following in the family tradition. My son, my daughter and

grandson are in the parade today. Let's hope the tradition continues.

The Covenant was about defiance. Defiance of a Bill that would

release Ireland from british control. Ulster's unionists, led by

Lord Carson, drew up a pledge rejecting it in the strongest terms.

What it means has not changed from grandfather to grandson. There are

serious and many pressures put on the people of Northern Ireland to

weaken that opinion. It is important for us to show the rest

of the world that we are just as determined now. But not everyone

was celebrating. The residents of Carrick Hill protested in front of

St Patrick's Church in north Belfast, as John and several

hundred other Orangemen passed by. While all the bands abided by the

Commission ruling to play hymns, some played more loudly than others.

So a more exuberant but the process seemed to be more respectful than

before. Sometimes it can be interpreted by members of the

community as insulting. The majority went well. Some loyalist

protesters outside a Catholic church in East Belfast vented their

anger at parade restrictions by encouraging bands to play louder

and sing banned songs. And when a bandsman was photographed urinating

near the church, the Orange Order apologised. The behaviour, what he

had done, anyway in public it should not happen, but particularly

at a place of worship, it was wrong. While the day passed without

serious incident, the failure to secure agreements in the weeks

leading up to it revealed deep divisions between both sides.

Saturday's Covenant parade was a relatively quiet end to a marching

season that lasted a month longer than in previous years. But the

parading problems thrown up by the summer remain unresolved. At the

heart of the controversy is the future of the Parades Commission.

We've looked back over the disputes to piece together why there were

problems and to examine the Parades Commission's determinations.

Rioting in Ardoyne in north Belfast on the Twelfth, a day that tested

the police to their limits. It wasn't supposed to be like this.

And it would end in a serious attack. The Orange Order's march

had had restrictions placed on it by the Parades Commission. In an

attempt to prevent confrontation, they said the Orange marchers had

to return past nationalist Ardoyne much earlier than normal. By 4

o'clock. Much to the irritation of the loyalist and unionist community.

It caused great distress in the way the unions family was. A

reprehensible decision -- Unionist family. It literally forced the

loyal orders to return by 4pm. same day, Republicans also wanted

to march in Ardoyne. Two separate protests were planned. The

organiser of one says their aim was clear, to challenge the Parades

Commission. We were challenging them. We say who has primacy?

effort to accommodate all sides, the parades commission allowed the

two republican protests AND a loyalist one - to go ahead, as well

as the Orange parade. It led to a Of republicans and loyalists cheek

by jowl in the middle of the road. The police were caught in the

middle. How close did it come to the wire to getting out of control?

There was a period of five full ten minutes undoubtedly and it was

incredibly difficult. -- I had to make sure nobody got hurt. I after

a day of tension and violence, the commission was criticised. Except

it was a challenging position for the police on the day and whatever

decisions were taken, there would have been problematic issues.

rioting worsened as the night went on and things turned more sinister

as a dissident republican gunman shot at police, firing 17 rounds.

The day after the 12th, a video emerged showing a loyalist marching

band stopping to play what many regard the sectarian tune outside

St Patrick's church. There was fury within the nationalist community.

The band responsible has not talked publicly about its actions, until

now. One of the band members spoke exclusively to us. I do not believe

the band did anything wrong on the day. What we did on Twelfth of July,

we did throughout the day, on the entirety of the route. It is just

what we do. The band in no way, as I see it, did anything wrong on the

day. He was one of those who stopped outside St Patrick's. He

feels the actions of the band have been exaggerated. There is nowhere

else in the world he would see the media taking the story of a band

playing outside a church. Over the top of 17 shots being fired at

police officers. It was not the act of playing that caused such offence,

it was the choice of music. tune we played was Sloop John B. We

cannot be held responsible for what people perceived to be. My honest

opinion if people think it was sectarian, surely they have a

mindset that is sectarian. Many say it is sectarian because it also

goes by the name of the Famine Song, a standard of Glasgow Rangers

supporters. We played tunes set out before we walk. In our eyes, it was

a genuine song. And if people perceived it as the Famine Song, if

somebody... If somebody felt hat, from what the band did, the band,

by all means, will apologise and has apologised. We did not set out

that day to cause anybody upset. It was a day of exuberance. We do what

we do every Twelfth of July. Act is little comfort to the priest

at St Patrick's, who was abroad when he heard about their actions.

I sent a text message and e-mail to say -- I received, it said to check

the website and I was quite shocked by it. My response was, what is

going on? And why are we being focused? Why are we being singled

out for this particular behaviour? Father Sheehan quickly found out

how upset parishioners were. They were horrified and insulted. They

felt belittled. They felt that nothing had changed in decades.

That day felt they were second- class citizens. And if we were

insulted by it, tough. She shortly after the video emerged, the band

apologised for any offence and said that members did not realise they

were outside a church. Some people would say they did not deliberately

do that and I am trying to be open to that. To the Catholic community,

it was an insult. Many others would say it was not intended as an

insult, but to stand outside the church and to do that, it is an

The YCV band's actions could not be ignored. They'd broken the Parades

Commission's code of conduct. And the body had to be seen to act.

Once more, how it acted made it the target of trenchant criticism. It

decided to place restrictions on an entire set of bands marching past

St Patrick's, on a Royal Black Preceptory Parade in late August.

They were only to play a single drumbeat - and the YCV band weren't

to walk past at all. Mervyn Gibson, chaplain to the Royal Black

Preceptory and an Orange Order spokesman, claims the Parades

Commission was acting in a vengeful way. You just cannot come out of

the blue, ban an organisation, a whole parade, from playing music at

a particular time. For no particular reason other than spite.

The marching fraternity was incensed, and decided it had had

enough. I think it was a case that people were asked would they

support a breaking of a determination if that was the case.

And I believe there was support for that decision. Unionist politicians

were prepared to lend them support. On the eve of the march an open

letter was written Owen Paterson, then Secretary of State, calling

the Parades Commission's decision "monstrous". I think it was

unhelpful. I think whenever I saw that letter produced, publicised,

the morning of the parade, I mean it was quite obvious that it was

not going to have a helpful effect. It was signed by a many unionist

politicians - including First Minister Peter Robinson, who was

abroad on holiday. When you've got someone who is supposed to be

leading an administration signing a letter which in practise encouraged

people to breach a determination which the Parades Commission had

established. I mean that is the opposite of political leadership,

that is running in behind the extremists. On the day of the

parade, bands openly flouted the Parades Commission's ruling -

playing loudly and proudly as they passed the Church. Father Sheehan

could only look on. The next thing I heard was the bands striking up

but becoming louder. And I was shocked because I couldn't believe

it and I thought maybe it was just a one off thing. Then the next band

struck up and the third band and the fourth and at that stage i

thought this is just crazy. And I couldn't understand why it was

happening. I had never ever witnessed anything of such anger

and eh would appear to be venom and sectarian hatred as I did then. I

was shocked by it, I was horrified by it. I was still shaking after it.

I know that. It's up to the police to uphold Parades Commission

determinations. But the police chose not to block the bands and

instead stood back, shouting warnings. You have an option you

can enforce at the time or but enforcement at the time stopping

that parade will lead seven thousand people to go where? I am

absolutely certain that the judgement that we exercised on the

25th was a right judgement in terms of both communities in North

Belfast. The Parades Commission had been openly defied. Peter Osborne

denies that it had been fatally undermined. The vast majority of

determinations are adhered to. Where they are not adhered to,

first of all the police gather evidence Secondly it's the sort of

issue we would take into account for future determinations if

necessary. More than 30 bands broke the Parades Commission

determination. They were criticised by some Protestant clergy, but DUP

minister Nelson McCausland sympathised with them. There is an

anger, there is a resentment within the unionist community and

therefore something such as this was almost inevitable. To be able

to say look, this is completely wrong, or you have to support the

law - that's what the role of a senior politician should be. Not

coming along and saying, look the Parades Commission, it shouldn't be

there, we shouldn't talk to them and we deplore their determinations.

I mean that just gives an open door to people who are going to riot.

What happened on the 25th was genuinely a protest against the

parade commission's decision. I wouldn't see it as law breaking.

was law breaking. You say it was law breaking, I am saying it was a

protest, something, a line in the sand had to be drew, it had to be

done. Determinations can be protested against, but when they're

flouted, the law is broken. there is a bad law there that

doesn't show equality and is enacted against the institution, I

think there will be peaceful protests against that until it is

changed. For the police, the legacy of these events was mounting

tension among loyalists, convinced they were being persecuted. It was

almost like a pressure cooker effect within the wider community

in. One week on from the bands' act of defiance, a republican parade

made its way past Clifton Street - without any restrictions. It was to

spark sustained rioting involving hundreds of waiting Loyalists. Once

again, the police were in the middle. That was three days of some

of the most intense rioting we have seen in Northern Ireland over the

course of a number of years to the most intense barrage of missiles

that led to over sixty of them being injured over the course of

that three days It led Will Kerr to publicly criticise the leadership

of politicians. But what was frustrating for the police service

at the beginning of September was the continuant political focus on

blaming the other side there's no such thing in a mature civic

society in 2012 as righteous anger that justifies the intensity and

the level of violence that we saw between the 2nd and 4th of

September in Carlise Circus. Unionist politicians, who'd been

happy to rail against the Parades Commission before the violence,

were then criticised for not coming out to condemn it. The DUP's Nigel

Dodds says that's grossly unfair. The DUP have a clear record of

condemning violence and we condemn violence absolutely, and Peter

Robinson and I visited the Lower Shankill and spoke to local

residents. This attempt to turn it round that somehow Unionist

politicians were slow to condemn violence that is absolute nonsense.

After three days of disorder, the First Minister publicly condemned

the rioting I think very consistently I've condemned anyone

who's involved in violence and breaking the law, that's a role

that you would expect any first minister, indeed it's consistently

been my position. I think there are undoubtedly very high tensions in

north Belfast and indeed other My role is to ensure that we don't

add to those difficulties by things that are said and done. Perhaps if

everyone took as step back and said a lot less, we might be in a much

better position to resolve these issues. But they will only be

resolved on the basis of mutual respect. But some commentators

believe unionist politicians were too slow with their condemnation.

think it was hugely damaging because it looked like they were

running away. It looked like they recognised they had got it wrong.

It was one of the biggest, I think, own goals that Unionism and Orange

have scored in the past two or three years. With the landmark

Covenant Centenary Parade just weeks away, the loyal orders tried

to build bridges. All eyes, including the Parades Commission,

were on them. So there was an apology for offences caused to the

church. And the Orange Order offered to meet the St Patrick's

parishioners. The Orange Order was hoping the talks it had offered

might lead to a deal to ease tensions in the area. With a summer

of trouble behind them, but one of their biggest events ahead, they

wanted to avoid restrictions from the Parades Commission. Father

Sheehan and a handful of parishioners agreed to meet with

them. I had never been involved in anything like this in my life. I am

not a negotiator, I am not trained in anything like that. I just

jumped in with two feet. And it was always my firm hope that if orange

and residents met that they would have found a common ground which

would have been clearly evident to both. The meeting with parishioners

was seen as a big development. But there was no meeting with residents

of the area. The Orange Order had for years blocked talks with

residents groups, but revealed that as far back as March it had dropped

that ban. We decided that we just couldn't sit back and allow the

parades commission to continue eh what they were doing. So we said

what we do need to do is to move things forward ourselves as an

organisation? But the talks didn't work - they ground to a halt over

the issue of whether the Order would talk to residents of nearby

Carrick Hill. I could not understand why that wouldn't happen.

And my hope was that that would happen. The Orange Order however

considered it a success. I think we have seen that we can engage and do

engage. And even engage at every parade of many people. This time we

actually engaged at a place where there had been contention and at a

place where there had been hurt caused. And I believe we engaged in

a way that was genuine. In a way that lead to mutual understanding,

and I believe lead to a resolution of that particular issue. There had

been engagement, but there hadn't been a solution. Once again it was

back to the Parades Commission to make a decision. The Parades

Commission said that only hymns were to be played outside churches,

and played with respect. That was flouted by some. Leaders from all

sides though have praised the relative calm of the Covenant

celebration. The question is after a summer of violence and protest

around parades - at what cost was this Centenary success bought?

Policing disorder arising from this summer's parading has cost the PSNI

considerably. Exact figures will be presented to the Policing Board on

Thursday. But we can reveal that the cost is already up on last year,

without taking into account the loyalist rioting in September or

Saturday's parade. The total for this year's marching season will be

over �6.5 million. That's up around �800,000 from last year. �6 million

is �6 million, which a police service can't spend on things that

matter more to local communities for the real, rest of the year. �6

million is far too much money to spend on this area. Will Kerr has a

strong view about how those costs should be met in the future.

would say quite legitimately I think that people should take

responsibility and share a burden of the costs whenever the platform

of an event leads to associated disorder we would welcome a debate

about where that cost would lie. Politicians here also have to

grapple with their failure, so far, to sort out the issue of parading.

It all comes down to the question of what will replace the Parades

Commission. Alistair Graham was on the very first Parades Commission

in 1998. It was his commission that first dealt with the annual problem

of Drumcree. I thought it would be an issue for a long period of time.

I didn't think the Parades Commission would still be in

existence, taking week to week, month to month decisions about

parades in Northern Ireland. I have genuinely been staggered by the

degree and the progress that has been made in political decision

making in Northern Ireland. But unfortunately we haven't made the

same progress in dealing with parades. Back in 2010, the DUP and

Sinn Fein thought they had it cracked. They came up with

proposals that would have created a new panel to rule on parades. But

the Orange Order voted not to support it, effectively killing the

plan off. There was elements within the institution that didn't want

that. Some I believe for political reasons, some for genuine reasons

that they were against them. I was involved in producing them, so yes,

I think they should have adopted them. But it is a democratic

organisation and they rejected them, albeit by a very small minority,

but that is democracy. That rejection called into question the

DUP's ability to deliver on parading. What the DUP should have

done was went ahead with it because the Orange order were represented

in all of that. They showed a weakness of leadership by not

seeing that through It also meant that the current Parades

Commission's life had to be extended until next year. Nigel

Dodds says there's still time to find a replacement. It's important

that people buy into and have confidence in a regime they have to

operate under and that applies to any walk of life so far as

government is concerned. No, I would've preferred that we had

moved forward on the basis of proposals that are out there but

we're not precious or signed up that it has to be these 2010

proposals, this is set in concrete, far from it, we want to move this

forward. Under the 2010 proposals, oversight of parading would have

been devolved to the office of first and deputy first ministers.

Alistair Graham says that's a bad Well I would be strongly against

that. I think to put this toxic issue of parades into the heart of

the political process would be a high risk strategy indeed.

solution many seek is for residents and marchers to come to agreements

on parading. The Orange Order meeting with Church parishioners

this summer shows that they think there's mileage in the idea, if

only to bypass the Commission. It's also led to increasing calls for

the Order to meet with Sinn Fein. have no doubt that they see the

orange will see the way ahead is to talk to Sinn Fein, is to talk to

residents groups. And then get more marches and more permission to

march as a result of that than refusing to speak. I think it will

eventually happen. Some people in the institution will never want it

to happen which is fair enough and i respect that view. I think it

will happen, but it won't happen when people are being enforced into

it or bullied in, or people think they are politically point scoring.

To do that the Orange Order will have to bring its members and

supporters with it. That will be a difficult sell to people like

bandsman Paul Shaw. If they're seen to be meeting republicans and

meeting Sinn Fein then it will tear the Order apart. I mean they will

lose all support from within itself, they are going against the grain.

If they have a policy and a principle set out, then they should

stand by it. If communities can't agree, most accept that decisions

from above are needed - basically what we have at present. So in many

ways we're at stalemate. The Parades Commission is certainly

unloved, but no-one yet has a better solution. We understand and

have always understood somebody has to arbitrate when there is dispute

around parades. We would prefer that not to reach that stage but

there is some parades will reach that stage. All we want is a body

in there that will deal with us all fairly. That is certainly not the

case with this Parades Commission. And hasn't been in the past.

Whether the critical decisions around parading remain with the

Commission or move to Stormont, the process will remain deeply tainted

by suspicion. It is a total disgrace the way we are being boxed

up and put in to cold storage. I mean it would suit everybody all

right for the Protestant people just to disappear. Nationalists

also face a decade of events that may likely be as contentious as the

Covenant celebrations. Yet they, too, have their problems, and will

be looking over their shoulder at hard-liners emboldened through this

summer's protest at parades. reality is I don't think there is a

solution to the parading commission, where you continue to have a turf

war, and there will always be a turf war in parts of Northern

Ireland. And nobody, whether it's the Assembly, whether it's the

Parades Commission, whether it's another entirely invented

organisation, I don't think anyone can resolve the bottom problem,

which is that one side really doesn't like the other. That mutual

animosity will always find an outlet in problem parades. A

century after the Ulster Convenant, Northern Ireland has worked through