Sinn Fein set to press Parades Commission over Drumcree march fears

Sinn Fein and the DUP have clashed over whether the parade should be allowed along the Garvaghy Road for the first time in more than 30 years.

Sinn Féin is set to deliver a “crystal clear” message to the Parades Commission against a proposal for the first Orange Order parade along the Garvaghy Road.

The commission is currently considering the application for the Drumcree parade to complete its traditional route along the Portadown thoroughfare.

The Drumcree stand-off dominated headlines in the 1990s, as nationalist residents of the Garvaghy Road were resolutely opposed to the parade passing through the area, leading to violent clashes for several summers and political tension necessitating a major security operation.

There were similar tensions at a number of other areas where residents said Orange Order parades were not welcome.

Earlier 11 residents groups from across Northern Ireland signed a joint letter of solidarity with the Garvaghy Road residents against the parade going through the area.

They expressed concern the parade going ahead on Sunday could “unravel” other deals in areas which have seen peace in recent years.

However Upper Bann DUP MP Carla Lockhart responded by saying Sinn Féin was “returning to its 1990s playbook”.

She urged direct engagement with the Portadown District of the Orange Order instead of “resorting to a failed residents group strategy” and to “abandon the politics of threats”.

“It’s time nationalists and republicans came to the table, and engaged with the Portadown District to find a lasting resolution which balances the rights of all sections of society,” she said.

Sinn Féin vice president Michelle O’Neill hit back saying: “Why does anyone want to reopen what was the horrific time of Drumcree.

“I think the residents letter is timely and I commend the residents for doing so, and I think they’re just pointing out a reality that the Garvaghy Road situation is being felt right across, and where we have seen progress over the last 25 years when it comes to parades, it has the potential to unravel.

“I don’t want to see that.”

Ms O’Neill said she will be leading a delegation from her party to meet with the commission this week and deliver a “crystal clear message that the Garvaghy Road residents do not wish to have this imposed upon them”.

“They certainly do not wish to open something that was closed 28 years ago,” she said.

“I think the job of all of us in political leadership is about protecting what has been achieved over the last 28 years, and certainly whenever I visited the Garvaghy Road community, what I saw was a confident community but a community that very much does not want to revisit the darkest days of the time of the Drumcree standoff.”

In a statement issued by Ó Muirigh Solicitors, the group, including the Bogside Residents Association, Lower Ormeau Concerned Community and Crumlin and Ardoyne Residents Association, said they have been dealing with contentious Loyal Order and band parades over the past three decades.

“We have invested a lot of time and energy in upholding the rights of local residents to live free from sectarian intimidation, while developing accommodations around parades through Nationalist/Catholic areas,” they said.

“Our concern is that such accommodations could unravel if the Orange Order continue to insist on parading down Garvaghy Road, or indeed pursue the same demands in other Nationalist/Catholic areas.”

The statement from the groups, which also include the Springfield Residents Action Group, Castlederg Residents Association and Rasharkin Residents Association, said residents have demonstrated a “genuine and indeed generous approach in reaching such accommodations”.

They added: “We believe that there needs to be reciprocation in their approach from the Orange Order.

“We pledge our full support and solidarity with the residents of Garvaghy Road, in their determination to be free from unwanted and intimidatory Orange Order parades through their area.”

The commission is to rule later this week on an application for 60 Orange Order members to take part in a proposed Drumcree parade on September 27.

The body, which adjudicates on contentious parades in Northern Ireland, was heavily criticised by unionist politicians and the Orange Order after a High Court ruling last month that quashed its most recent determination over the Drumcree parade.

The Parades Commission has blocked the order from marching along the Garvaghy Road in July every year since 1998.

Ms Lockhart insisted Drumcree is “no longer a closed or settled issue”.

“Sinn Féin are living in the 1990s. This is 2026.

“Their residents’ group strategy may have worked then, it won’t now,” she said.

“This stunt is just further evidence of the sheer desperation from republicans as the reality starts to dawn that that which they told their people was a ‘closed’ and ‘settled’ victory for those opposed to the exercise of rights by Orangemen is very much back on the table.”

She went on: “The subtle threat from Sinn Féin-run residents’ groups to reopen parading ‘accommodation’ demonstrates just how little they understand about the present legal context.

“Firstly, unionist rights do not persist only by the grace and favour of nationalists or republicans, nor are they delimited by residents groups; secondly, and most importantly, those accommodations properly understood represent the voluntarily limiting of the exercise of their rights by Orangemen.

“If Sinn Féin want to open up those issues again then they would need to understand that if Orangemen are minded to just seek to have the law properly applied, then the outcome will be very much contrary to the current compromises Sinn Féin benefit from.

“It’s time nationalists and republicans came to the table, and engaged with the Portadown District to find a lasting resolution which balances the rights of all sections of society.

“The days of ‘unionism must give, and nationalism must get’ are over, and the sooner that realisation dawns, the closer we will be to making real progress.”