LAST week the Rasharkin Residents Association presented a report to the Parades Commission on the impact that the Ballymaconnelly parade has on the small village of Rasharkin. To bring 44 bands into this village, given the demographics of the village coupled with the loyalist affiliations of many of these bands is a recipe for a community relations disaster. We outlined the sectarian behaviour of bands when passing the residents protest in recent years and also the problem of loyalist paramilitary flags. Therefore additional restrictions in those areas are welcome. However, this parade will still have a hugely negative impact on the village this Friday night with a band named after a Coleraine UVF member one of those taking part. The Parades Commission did not follow through on the message made clear by the previous commission that the organisers must engage. Last year they said that the "Rasharkin Residents Association has continued to make clear its willingness to engage in dialogue" and that "continuing failure to enter dialogue will have a significant bearing on the commission's view of the parade."
That has not come to pass and the Commission must now get real about what it takes to bring about direct dialogue instead of another year of deliberate procrastination from parade organisers.
LEANNE PEACOCK
Rasharkin Residents Association
