Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I raised that case time and again. I met Billy Wright's father and I always played my part in the case.

With regard to the case of Mr. Kelly, we knew, from our people, that he was involved in the marching season last year when he was quite helpful in de-escalating trouble on the streets. The British side says it has information that he had broken his licence. We cannot make a judgment on that and the case will go to the appeals commission. All we said was that if this is the process, we accept it — there have been very few such cases — and the quicker it is dealt with, the better. Last year, Mr. Kelly was definitely involved in playing a constructive role in very difficult situations about which we were well aware. As to what he was doing during the winter season, I am not in a position to make a judgment.

As Deputy Rabbitte will appreciate, marches have taken place practically every day for the past few weeks. It is a difficult issue and we are trying to be as constructive and helpful as possible in trying to deal with difficult situations, whether the tour of the north march ten days ago, the Whiterock parade, which was on Saturday, the mini-12th celebration, which will take place in east Belfast this Friday night, Portadown, the Drumcree parade, which is coming up on 10 July, tensions around the neighbouring town of Lurgan or concern about parades through Nationalist areas of Ballymena, such as the Orange march on 27 June mentioned by Deputy Rabbitte, about which Seán Farren said the police had been heavy-handed in dealing with Nationalist protestors. I want to be very even-handed about this issue. There are all kinds of tensions and difficulties around many of the parades this year, for all the obvious reasons, including the Derry parade which I mentioned recently. We are trying to help all sides.

Yesterday, apart from the formal meeting, we had meetings with British officials. We are doing our best to try to reduce tensions around parades. Every word uttered in the House during these debates is read by all sides. We are trying to be even-handed with regard to all the marches, including those I did not mention, whether by the Orange Order, provisional republicans or any of the loyalist groups. What we, in the House, are trying to do is help to get through a difficult marching season.

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