British politicians pay brief visit to Drumcree

Four members of the House of Commons Select Committee on Northern Ireland paid a brief unannounced visit to the barricade at Drumcree yesterday.

They were part of a six-member delegation from the committee on a two-day fact-finding mission to the North as past of an inquiry into the effectiveness of the Parades Commission.

Among the six-member delegation was the former Northern Secretary, Sir Peter Brooke. All of the others were Labour party MPs, including Mr John Grogan, Mr Nick Palmer, Mr Steve McCabe, Mr Colin Burgon, and Mr Tony Clarke. It was the latter four who visited Drumcree yesterday.

Members of the delegation had been to Orange parades in Ballinderry, Dromore, and Antrim, Mr Clarke explained, and it was felt that as they were in Northern Ireland some of them should also visit Drumcree.

He said the Parades Commission inquiry they were conducting had begun in May but was without a time-frame. To date they had invited and received submissions from some interested parties and had interviewed the Parades Commission chairman, Mr Tony Holland.

They intended to interview representatives of the Portadown Orangemen and the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition also.

Orangemen and their supporters impressed on the MPs their dissatisfaction with the Parades Commission, and the conduct of the RUC. One young woman showed the delegation bruises she had received in an RUC baton charge.

The Portadown District's information officer, Mr David Jones, told to Mr Clarke the Orangemen's view that the Garvaghy residents had been allowed a veto over their parade. Mr Jones said details of what was planned next "would become clear" in coming days.

He was critical of the security forces handling of the situation at the Corcrain estate on Tuesday night and felt a more discreet presence by police and army would have meant less trouble.

"If someone told me 10, five, even less years ago that the effigy of an RUC officer would be burned at an eve of the Twelfth bonfire I would not have believed it," he said.