Legal case parades commissioner quits Orange Order
A member of the North's Parades Commission whose membership of the Orange Order sparked a legal action has stepped down from the organisation.
David Burrows’ membership of the Order in Portadown placed him at the centre of the controversial Drumcree marching dispute over the last 10 years.
He quit following a recent decision by the Court of Appeal to overturn a ruling in the High Court in Belfast that his appointment to the Commission was illegal.
It is understood Mr Burrows’ decision to resign from the Orange Order followed legal advice.
The Commission has also resolved to not involve Mr Burrows in any decision on parades in the Portadown district.
Parades Commission chairman Roger Poole revealed Mr Burrows had resigned from the Orange Order. Mr Poole said the move was designed to remove any element of doubt about his position.
He praised Mr Burrows, saying he admired the way the former Orangeman handled himself during the controversy. Mr Burrows’ decision, he said, was taken for the greater good of the Commission.
Nationalists in Portadown had challenged Northern Secretary Peter Hain’s decision to appoint Mr Burrows and another Orangeman from the town, Don MacKay, to the Commission.
A resident from the Garvaghy Road argued that it was unfair because no nationalist residents group representatives in the North had been encouraged to put their name forward, while members of the Protestant marching orders were.
Mr MacKay quit the Commission when it emerged he provided two references on his application form to join the Commission without consulting the people involved.
One of the references given was SDLP Assembly member Delores Kelly, whose party discovered by chance that her name had been submitted on Mr MacKay’s form.
The Upper Bann MLA said that had she been asked to be a referee she would have turned down Mr MacKay because their positions on the parading issue were poles apart.
It also emerged that Mr MacKay had assumed Democratic Unionist MP David Simpson would be a referee without consulting him.
Mr Simpson admitted that he was not approached and Mr MacKay subsequently resigned.
Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition spokesperson Breandan Mac Cionnaith claimed Mr Burrows’ resignation was a validation of his group’s legal challenge against the former Orangeman’s appointment to the Parades Commission.
“The Secretary of State was saying his original appointment had been ordered by the High Court,” Mr Mac Cionnaith said.
“As things move on, I think, Peter Hain’s decisions are being shown to have been unrealistic and invalid from the very outset.”
Robert Saulters, the Grand Master of the Orange Order, said he was not surprised by Mr Burrows’ decision to resign as there had been speculation that he would leave the organisation before leaving the commission.
“Doesn’t that knock the Secretary of State’s argument on the head that he thought an Orangeman could serve on the Parades Commission?” he said. “It doesn’t say much for the Parades Commission.”
