Parades Commission Ridiculed Over March

Parading is back on the news agenda today with some commentators branding the official Parades Commission "ridiculous" after it was revealed an illegal republican march in support of a double murderer is to take place this weekend.

Upper Bann DUP MLA Stephen Moutray has urged the Parades Commission to act against the republican rally planned for Lurgan this weekend.

He said the 'Release Martin Corey Campaign' event would be held in the Kilwilkie estate on Sunday.

It is in support of Corey, 60, has been held in Maghaberry since last April after his release-on-licence status was revoked after he was originally handed a life sentence in 1973 after killing two RUC men in the same year. He was released on licence in 1992, having served 19 years.

Republicans have since accused the government of holding Corey as a "political hostage".

However, the Parades Commission confirmed that it had not been notified over this weekend's rally and also that it does not have the power to ban any such event.

The DUP's Stephen Moutray said: "This event has been announced publicly as a 'march'.

"The organisers themselves have stated publicly that the route of this march has not yet been made public.

"The Parades Commission needs to act without delay. Failure to do so will provide further proof of how right the DUP was to work for the abolition of the Parades Commission," said the MLA.

Ulster Unionist Colin McCusker described the situation as "ridiculous" and said that the Orange Order in Lurgan has always abided by the rules that govern parades in this country.

"It is apparent that the authorities are not prepared to tackle the issue of illegal parades.

"We have the ridiculous situation where the Parades Commission do not become involved as they have not been notified of the parade - in effect the parade does not exist in their eyes, so no determination is issued and no monitors asked to attend.

"In the case of Lurgan, it is obvious that Republican Sinn Fein are thumbing their noses at the police by putting up their posters right in front of the Lurgan PSNI station.

"There is no reason why this parade should be allowed to go ahead - it must be stopped," he insisted.

Meanwhile, dissident republican activity has been targeted by the PSNI with the arrest of a 36-year-old man in the Keady area of south Armagh.

The arrest on Thursday was part of a search operation involving detectives from the PSNI serious crime branch.

Army bomb disposal experts were tasked to examine a number of suspect objects during the operation. These have since been removed for examination.

(BMcC/GK)