TUV vice-chair Keith Harbinson has expressed dismay at the appointment of Rena Shepherd as the new chair of the Parades Commission.

Mr Harbinson said:

“Given the anti-Unionist bias of the Human Rights Commission – a body headed by Ms Shepherd’s former colleague in the Women’s Coalition, Monica McWilliams – the Loyal Orders will have little confidence in Ms Shepherd’s appointment, and ability to look at the parading issue impartially.

“During a debate in the Assembly on Drumcree in 1998 Women’s Coalition MLA Jane Morrice stated:

“We do not want to see another summer in which people have to flee the country, with planes leaving Belfast full, and planes returning empty. This is the holiday season when we should be attracting tourists. It is entirely wrong to hold Northern Ireland to ransom."

“We understand that there are difficulties and challenges on both sides, but we believe that it is unacceptable for any group to impede the democratic process, particularly the Agreement, which was endorsed by the vast majority and which enshrines the principle of consent.”

“If these are the sort of views Ms Shepherd holds on the Loyal Orders and parading I hold out little hope for an improvement in the attitude of the Parades Commission during her tenure in office.  As previously stated, whilst the gift of the right to parade lies in the hands of this unelected quango, which attracts absolutely no degree of scrutiny and subsequently offers no degree of tranaparency then the decisions will always be susceptable to becoming polluted by personal perception, which is in turn particularly worrying in light of this recent appointment."

“The Parades Commission far from helping to ease the problems in relation to one of Northern Ireland’s most contentious issues has been a major part of the problem. Remembering too that the DUP manifesto, which is just over a week old, stated that one of their achievements in devolution was that the Parades Commission was to be scrapped, it would seem to suggest that such lauded success may be somewhat peremptory given that now, far from the Commission going, it has been given a stay of execution with the appointment of a new chair."