Provision of a Media Advisory and Public Relations Service - Parades Commission

Tender description

The Parades Commission was established as a statutory body on 16 February 1998 by virtue of section 1 of the Public Processions (Northern Ireland) Act 1998. The Commission has a Chairperson and six members who come from diverse backgrounds, supported by a small Secretariat which is headed by a senior civil servant. The current Commission was appointed in January 2011 for a period of three years. The functions of the Commission are set out in section 2 of that Act and are: to promote greater understanding by the general public of issues concerning public processions; to promote and facilitate mediation as a means of resolving disputes concerning public processions; to keep itself generally informed as to the conduct of public processions and protest meetings; and to keep under review, and make such representation as it thinks fit to the Secretary of State concerning the operation of the Act. The majority of the Commission's time is taken up with considering around 200 contentious parades and, where necessary, issuing determination imposing restrictions on them.