Editorial: Allowing Parades Commission to stumble on is a dangerous move amid parading tensions

​The current Parades Commission cannot stumble on until after a judicial review, and to allow it to do so would be a dangerous move by the government.

​The Secretary of State has expressed his confidence in the body – a position which is somewhat contradictory to the fact that he has launched a judge-led review of its activities.

The Orange Order will today announce its plans for a march at Drumcree. With the current commission in place, any refusal will likely result in further legal action.

What is clear is that this commission has lost the confidence of the entirety of one section of this community. With all unionist leaders, the loyal orders and the marching bands wanting them gone – any refusal will have little moral authority.

The body has played a key role in depoliticising parading, particularly by taking decisions out of the hands of the police whose involvement in decisions in the 1990s embroiled the RUC in controversy after controversy.

That can’t happen again, and decisions must be taken by an independent commission. However, the credibility of this commission is shot. The current situation cannot hold for nationalists either, who must know that any decision to reject a parade will carry little credibility given the conduct of the commission thus far.

The Parades Commission has never been loved by unionists or the loyal orders, but it has managed to keep a lid on the most contentious parades for decades. There is a quiet nervousness in sections of unionism over what re-opening the Drumcree issue could mean for parades elsewhere, and for attempts to promote them as part of Ulster’s unique cultural history.

The only way to deal with the issue is to restore enough confidence in the commission for its decisions to be credible. That can’t happen with the current commissioners in place.