The North's Parades Commission should be scrapped and replaced by a tribunal system, according to the Ulster Unionist Party.
In a strong criticism of the commission and its handling of contentious parades, the UUP yesterday published a 49-page document outlining what it sees as the faults with the current system.
Mr David Trimble, the party leader, also used the party report to claim that an opportunity to end the long-runnung dispute over the annual Drumcree parade had been lost.
Sir George Quigley, a former chairman of the Ulster Bank, is at present heading a review of the parades issue. He was called in after talks at Weston Park in England concluded a package designed to break last summer's political deadlock.
Mr Trimble claimed that proposals for a parade along the Garvaghy Road in Portadown by the local Orange lodge, sent via the South African interlocutor, Mr Brian Currin, could have resolved the long-running dispute. However, the chance had been lost. However, this was not due to the fault of individual members of the commission, but because of its constitution.
Mr Trimble believes that considerations have been based on the estimated threat to public order if marches go ahead. He maintains that this is wrong and says that consideration of conflicting rights should instead form the basis of adjudication.
Relations between the wider unionist community and the commission have been strained since the body's foundation in 1998. The Orange Order does not talk to the commission at all.
The UUP document claims that 150 determinations have been issued by the commission, all of which relate to the rights of residents, with only lip service being paid to the rights of Portadown Orangemen to assemble and parade peacefully.
The party states: "There are systematic faults in the current legislation and practice of the Parades Commission."
It claims that too much secrecy is attached to the manner in which disputed parades are handled by the commission and calls for submissions regarding contentious parade applications, especially police reports, to be made available for public scrutiny.
The document levels a number of detailed criticisms of the legislation passed in 1998 which gives authority to the Parades Commission. In its general thrust it asserts that the overriding emphasis on public order considerations acts against the rights of those who wish to parade.
Citing a European Court of Human Rights declaration, the party argues that the court's articles should be more fully reflected in the legislation governing the commission.
The document concludes: "The Ulster Unionist Party remains of the firm belief that the operation of the Parades Commission has served no useful purpose and has subsequently failed to be of benefit to civic society in Northern Ireland."