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Given that it was the DUP's sine qua non back in the cold days the Parades Bill has had a stormy passage since then. First opposition from trade unions and other concerned parties secured major changes to the proposed restrictions on public protests. Now the reluctance of the Orange Order to back the bill, has led to the DUP refusing to push the legislation forward. Peter Robinson is dissapointed, but argues there is no point replacing the Parades Commision, which the Order won't engage with, with a new body they won't support.

So it looks like the Parades Commission will roll over for another year. The Commission was never very impressed by the plans for its replacement. As can be seen in its the Commission claimed to have "no selfish interest in its own perpetuation". But it expressed concern that the planned new structures had "an increased potential for independence to be compromised and for decisions to be influenced by political or partisan considerations."

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