HL Deb 09 December 1997 vol 584 cc3-4WA
Lord Cope of Berkeley

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether the North Report recommended that a code of conduct for those protesting against a parade should be prepared by the Parades Commission.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Northern Ireland Office (Lord Dubs)

I am grateful for this opportunity to clarify the point raised by the noble Lord in debate on the Public Processions Bill.

The Public Processions (Northern Ireland) Bill, which implements the recommendations of the North Report, would treat a counter-demonstration to a public procession as an open-air public meeting. It would therefore fall to be regulated by the police using their existing powers under the Public Order Order. The North Report recommended that the police give serious consideration to preparing a code of conduct in relation to such meetings similar to that prepared for parades by the Parades Commission". At the same time, however, the report recommended that the commission have ownership of a code of conduct covering the behaviour both of participants and protesters (Chapter 13, paragraph 40). There is therefore some ambiguity about the position of protesters, particularly as many of the features of the code of conduct make it clear that the sort of protests which might be covered would constitute organised open air public meetings which would fall to be regulated by the police rather than the commission.