Parades talking shop reinforces UUP and SDLP side-lining

Ulster Unionist North Belfast MLA Fred Cobain has said that the make up of the parades working group is "symptomatic of the DUP/Sinn Fein carve-up that is crippling Northern Ireland".

"I, like Alban Maginness, have worked for a great many years on the parading issue and find it bizarre - although far from surprising - that the two-party coalition at the top feels that we have nothing to contribute to this process.

"Given that we are supposed to be entering a new era, the formation of yet another DUP/Sinn Fein ourselves-alone talking shop flies in the face of inclusivity and the facilitation of genuine community representation.

"This does nothing to allay concerns about the instability and dysfunctionality of an Executive and Assembly that have been paralysed for so long by a DUP and Sinn Fein tango that is taking us nowhere," the UUP Chief Whip said.

"This is a deeply contentious issue, yet those of us who actually stood at interfaces negotiating peaceful progress have once again been sidelined.

"Talk of inclusivity and engagement is precisely that - talk. Yet again actions have shown that the self-interest of the DUP and Sinn Fein out-ranks what is in the best interests of the entire community of Northern Ireland."