Why has Douglas Bain not resigned from Parades Commission?
20 September 2012
Statement by TUV Leader Jim Allister:“Douglas Bain has been appointed as the Assembly’s Commissioner for Standards and is already in post. The Commissioner will investigate complaints against MLAs. It must be a demonstrably independent role.
“Currently there is controversy over Nelson McCausland’s comments, following the 25th August RBP parade. This centres on defiance of an absurd Parades Commission ruling, which Mr Bain was a party to making, because he sits on the Parades Commission. If at any time that complaint translated into a complaint against Mr McCausland as an MLA, then it would be up to Douglas Bain to investigate! The potential for conflict of interest is self evident and thus I am amazed that Mr Bain has not resigned from the Parades Commission. His position is untenable. I am not suggesting Mr Bain is incapable of independence, it is that alignmment with a body such as the Parades Commission puts him in an invidious position.
“The Parades Commission is such a divisive and controversial body, particularly among unionists, including unionist MLAs, that it is wholly inappropriate that the Assembly’s independent Commissioner for Standards should be a member of it. And the longer he stays the more difficult the situation becomes.
“When I raised the issue this week in the Assembly with the Chairman of Committee on Standards and Privileges I did not get a satisfactory response. So, I am now calling publicly on Mr Bain to quit the Parades Commission.”
