BBC News - Richard Haass visits Northern Ireland ahead of all-party talks 17 July 2013 Last updated at 08:26 Dr Richard Haass, who will chair all-party talks later this year, will arrive in Northern Ireland on Wednesday. He will meet political leaders ahead of chairing the discussions which will deal with many divisive issues. The group will try to bring forward a set of recommendations by the end of this year, on parades, protests, flags, symbols and emblems. Dr Haass is the former US Special Envoy for Northern Ireland. Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said he was well qualified to chair the talks. We've all met him in the past. I think we have all been impressed by him," he said. He is someone who has an empathy with the situation here, someone who wanted to do this whenever we asked him and one of the first points that he made was that he didn't want a salary, so we're dealing with someone who is very genuine. First Minister Peter Robinson said Dr Haass was the "first choice" for all the parties to chair the talks. BBC Northern Ireland political editor Mark Devenport described his visit as a "fact-finding exercise." "We're expecting Dr Haass probably to have lunch with the first minister and deputy first minister and then to have a meeting with the other parties, certainly party leaders and some of their representatives, later in the course of the afternoon," he said. The fact that violence is still continuing on the streets shows the kind of scale of the task that faces him.