A former nationalist MP and a prominent Orangeman are to serve on the next Parades Commission in Northern Ireland.
Dr Joe Hendron, a former SDLP MP, who unseated Sin Fein president Gerry Adams, in west Belfast in 1992, was among three men and three women chosen for the new look commission which will be chaired by former trade unionist, Roger Poole.
But he will also be joined by David Burrows, a Portadown Orangeman, who was barred from marching down the nationalist Garvaghy Road in the Drumcree parades dispute from 1998.
It is also understood that Northern Ireland Secretary, Peter Hain, has appointed to the commission Anne Monaghan, a former Women's Coalition election candidate and independent member of Belfast's District Policing Partnership.
Other commission members include Donald MacKay, a fireman for 26 years who has been a member of the Orange Order, and the Royal Black Institution, Vilma Patterson, a former chair of the Women in Business Network and Alison Scott-McKinley, a lay magistrate and former independent member of Magherafelt District Policing Partnership.
Mr Poole will take over from Tony Holland as chairman of the Parades Commission in the New Year. He is a former Assistant General Secretary of the health unions, NUPE and Unison. In 1989 and 1990, he was the public face of the ambulance dispute as a chief union negotiator.
Mr Poole also played a key role in the merger of three trade unions to form Unison and in 1999, he was part of the team established by Prime Minister, Tony Blair, to examine the future of the Co-operative Movement.
Three of Northern Ireland's Protestant marching organisations tonight issued a joint statement claiming the Commission still had deep flaws.
But the leaders of the Orange Order, Royal Black Institution and Independent Orange Institution - who have refused to talk with the body - pledged to work with the Government to resolve the problems.
They said: "We note with interest the announcement and appointment today of the new members of the Parades Commission. "We recognise that, while new members may bring a new attitude and focus to the job, the system remains fundamentally flawed.
"Our respective organisations have been working together to develop a joint policy on the management and regulation of major public events for the benefit of the entire community.
"It's our intention to engage with government and other stakeholders in the New Year in a positive, constructive and substantive way to enable a permanent resolution to the issues surrounding parades in circumstances of mutual respect and tolerance."
PA