MLA told weare still inlimbo afterHaass talks

DUP MLA Gregory Campbell has been told Northern Ireland is in effective limbo as far as agreement on dealing with the issues arising from the Haass talks is concerned.

US diplomat Richard Haass visited Londonderry last year whilst trying to figure out how to deal with flags, parades and the past.

His proposals for a new Office for Parades, Select Commemorations, and Related Protests (OPSCRP) and a new Authority for Public Events Adjudication (APEA) to deal with parades; a new Commission on Identity, Culture, and Tradition (CICT) to deal with flags; and a new Historical Investigations Unit (HIT), a new Independent Commission for Information Retrieval (ICIR), and a new Implementation and Reconciliation Group (IRG) to deal with the past; were not adopted.

Now the First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness have confirmed that there is no agreement on a way forward.

Mr Campbell asked them what progress was being made on resolving the issues which arose from the Haass discussions.

They responsed: “There is currently no agreement on the process to deal with the issues arising from the Haass discussions.”

During Dr Haass’ time here former UUP leader said that when he was dealing with the past he should treat Irish bombers the same way as he would treat those behind the New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania attacks of 2001.