Main Points
- The standoff in Portadown has entered a third day despite efforts by Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Bryant to mediate a solution yesterday.
- It follows the blocking of a contentious Orange Order parade from proceeding along Garvaghy Road on Sunday.
- The Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition has lodged a legal challenge to a ruling which found the Orange Order Drumcree parade could proceed at the weekend.
- The Orange Order has made a criminal complaint against First Minister Michelle O’Neill and Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald over their participation in the protests.
- O’Neill says she has not been contacted by the PSNI over her attendance at the unlawful protest.
Key Reads
- Newton Emerson: Drumcree standoff puts a significant achievement of the peace process at risk
- Analysis: What next amid tension in Drumcree? It’s complicated ...
- Podcast: How will the Drumcree standoff end?
- Decades after flashpoints of the 1990s, Drumcree is just as dangerous
- Stormont staggers on, but this is a dangerous moment for Northern Ireland
- In pictures: How the Garvaghy Road standoff unfolded on day of high tension
- Concern Stormont Executive may collapse amid escalation of tensions over Drumcree parade
Garvaghy Road residents seek meeting with chief constable
The meeting of the Garvaghy Road residents has concluded, reports Mark Hennessy from the scene.
Shortly after 8pm, Breandán Mac Cionnaith and other residents’ leaders briefed hundreds of locals in the pastoral centre next to St John The Baptist’s Church on Garvaghy Road about the meeting held in Hillsborough with the Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Chris Bryant, following the latter’s return from the Labour Party conference in Manchester.
Mac Cionnaith said Chief Constable of Northern Ireland Jon Boutcher must meet with Garvaghy Road residents to explain how the force could have told the Parades Commission that an Orange Order march could take place from Drumcree Church without the risk of serious public disorder.
“Almost 93 per cent of people here signed a petition opposing this proposed march,” he told journalists after the briefing.
“Their voices need to be heard by the British government – and not only heard, but listened to. So that was made very clear to the Secretary of State. We also said that a march along Garvaghy Road in any shape, any form, would not be acceptable to this community.”
Demanding a meeting with Boutcher, he said: “The only person still left for us to meet, if he has the courage to meet us, is the PSNI chief constable.
“So, I’ll be waiting tonight and tomorrow morning for the chief constable to let me know when he is going to meet with us, or is he going to hide behind a wall of uniforms of police in riot gear? It’s up to him.”
He said Boutcher needs to be able to explain how the PSNI’s security briefing to the Parades Commission could have led to the commission clearing the way for the Orange parade.
“I’m sure the chief constable knows the questions that’s going to be posed to him,” he said. “Have the courage and come and meet with us.”
Earlier in the week, Mac Coinnaith demanded the appointment of an international mediator, though he sounded significantly less enthusiastic about this point when he spoke to journalists on Tuesday evening.
“Our past experience has been that mediation has always ended up in a march, so why should we get involved in a flawed process that leads to a flawed decision?”
Rejecting suggestions that he was back-tracking, he said: “No, I says why should we [get involved in mediation]? It’s up to others to prove why we should.
“We’re very clear, and don’t try to misinterpret anything I’m saying, and don’t try and publish wrongful information about what’s going on. We’re asking the questions. Nobody’s giving us the answers.”
Questioned about the residents’ group decision to launch a court challenge to seek sight of the PSNI’s security advice to the Commission, he said: “I think it’s quite obvious what we want to achieve through that legal action.
“So that’s another process has been put into play here. The Orange Order and Jamie Bryson aren’t the only ones that can take legal action. We’ll leave that to the courts to decide.
“But, as I said, our main priority now is to see if the chief constable will meet us and let us know what his views are, because he also has some questions to address, especially about his so-called security assessment that led us to be put in this position.”
He finished by insisting residents will stay on watch “until we get a decision”.
Meeting of Garvaghy Road residents gets underway
A meeting of the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition has started, Mark Hennessy reports from the scene. The press have been left outside.
He tells us there were cheers for their representatives upon entering, but adds: “That tells little.”
Garvaghy Road residents leave meeting with Northern Secretary
Garvaghy Road residents have finished a meeting with Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Chris Bryant at Hillsborough Castle.
A representative of the community, Breandán Mac Cionnaith left without making comment, stating “it’s only fair” to brief residents first.
Michelle O’Neill says ‘right is always right’
O’Neill earlier said police have not contacted her about her attendance at an unlawful protest against the Drumcree parade, adding that she does not expect to be arrested.
She and other senior colleagues were among a large crowd that blockaded the road in the predominantly nationalist Garvaghy Road area on Sunday to prevent the contentious Orange Order Drumcree parade from passing the route.
Under parading laws in Northern Ireland, protests must be notified to, and approved by, the Parades Commission adjudication body.
Under parading laws in Northern Ireland, protests must be notified to, and approved by, the Parades Commission adjudication body.
Police have confirmed the protest was unnotified to the commission and therefore unlawful.
Asked if she believed she was above the law, O’Neill told reporters: “Right is always right, and this community needs our support right now – and I will continue to stand with the Garvaghy Road residents.”
Orange Order describes meeting as ‘positive’
The Orange Order has said it had “a very positive and constructive meeting” with Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Chris Bryant.
Speaking as his group left the meeting at Hillsborough Castle, Orange Order Portadown district master Nigel Dawson said: “We have once again had a very positive and constructive meeting with the Secretary of State.”
“Obviously, the contents of the meeting is confidential but we look forward to the law being applied to the parade.
“We will not be taking any questions because this is a confidential meeting we had with the Secretary of State.”
Asked when the process will continue, he said: “That’s a question for the Secretary of State.”
Hear from our reporter on the Garvaghy Road
Since early Sunday morning, 35 members of the Orange Order have been waiting at Drumcree Church to parade down the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown.
It is a march that, in the 1990s, sparked tension and violence in Drumcree, and with the result that the Protestant loyalist organisation has been refused permission to march through the Catholic area for nearly 30 years.
So why was it given permission now?
As of Tuesday, the Orangemen remain determined to march, saying they now have the legal right to do so. The local nationalist community is equally intent on preventing them.
And the repercussions are being felt at Stormont. The DUP and the Orange Order have made complaints to the PSNI about the presence of Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald and Northern Ireland’s First Minister, Michelle O’Neill, at the protest.
With tensions running high on the streets of Drumcree, and the DUP-Sinn Féin political partnership fraying, could this standoff bring down Stormont?
You can hear from Mark Hennessy, The Irish Times Ireland and Britain Editor, in our In the News podcast as he reports from the Garvaghy Road.
Parades Commission ‘materially misdirected itself’
On the fresh legal bid to prevent the Drumcree march, lawyers for the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition have argued the Parades Commission “materially misdirected itself” on the police assessment of the potential for disorder.
The group has also claimed the Parades Commission had not given an “accurate representation of the evidence received from PSNI” in its decision.
Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition lodge legal challenge to ruling and seek ‘urgent hearing’
The Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition has lodged a legal challenge to a ruling which found the Orange Order Drumcree parade could proceed at the weekend, reports Northern Correspondent Seanín Graham.
The residents’ solicitor, Darragh Mackin of Phoenix Law, confirmed on Wednesday that he had submitted an appeal seeking an “urgent hearing”.
Papers were lodged to the Court of Appeal in Belfast shortly before 3pm, ahead of their meeting with Northern Ireland Secretary for State Chris Bryant, at Hillsborough Castle.
“It is clear there’s a wider public interest in having these issues determined,” Mackin told The Irish Times.
The residents will challenge an appeal granted to the Orange Order following an overnight court hearing on Sunday, which resulted in an earlier injunction banning the parade being overturned.
Central to the residents’ appeal will be a PSNI submission to the Parades Commission.
The commission determined that a limited parade of 35 Orange Order members could proceed down the nationalist Garvaghy Road.
“The late disclosure at 1.30am on Sunday morning regarding the content of the police assessment given to the Parades Commission called into question the rationality of the Parades Commission’s decision in the first instance,” Mackin said.
“For that reason, it is important these issues are ventilated before the court at the earliest opportunity.”
It is not yet clear when the appeal hearing will take place.
Mackin also rejected claims made on Tuesday by an Orange Order member who said that the Parades determination remained “live”.
“There’s no rationale for saying it’s a live determination. It’s not. That’s wrong,” he said.
If the Portadown Orange Order members leave Drumcree Church, they know they will have “have to reapply” to the commission for another parade, he added.
“They police cannot extend a Parades Commission determination,” he added.
Second day of clashes in Stormont Assembly over ongoing stand-off at Drumcree
Sinn Féin Assembly member (MLA) Pat Sheehan asked unionist MLAs seated opposite why they had given over the leadership of unionism “to this buck idiot, Jamie Bryson,” reports Northern Editor Freya McClements.
The high-profile loyalist activist and “legal eagle”, Sheehan said, was “swinging you all around by the tail. Why do you not just stand up?”, he asked.
“The leader of unionism at the minute, who is calling the shots, is standing down at Drumcree,” he said.
In response, DUP MLA Diane Forsythe described Sheehan as an “IRA bomber,” in reference to a past conviction and emphasised she was “proud” to say DUP leader Gavin Robinson was the leader of unionism.
“He does a much better job than the part-timer [Sinn Féin vice president] Michelle O’Neill, First Minister on the run from the chamber.”
Ulster Unionist leader Jon Burrows criticised the Sinn Féin politicians who took part in the unnotified protest against the Drumcree parade on Sunday, saying “you have damaged the legitimacy of this place and that is shameful.
“A big challenge is coming down the road for Sinn Féin, because its members broke the law.”
SDLP MLA and Leader of the Opposition, Matthew O’Toole, highlighted the continued “dysfunction” of the Stormont Executive, not least over its continued failure to agree a budget and said Northern Ireland was “at a moment of acute political – possibly even societal – crisis, given what has become a stand-off.
“While I want a resolution to the issue at Garvaghy Road that upholds the rights of the residents, I also have to be clear about the unacceptability of walking away from the responsibility to govern this place,” he said.
The Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) MLA Timothy Gaston repeated his call for the DUP to walk out of the Executive and collapse the power-sharing institutions, asking “how can she [O’Neill] remain a fit partner in government for [deputy first minister] Emma Little-Pengelly?
“The rule of law must be upheld,” he said. “No parade, no Stormont – and no surrender.”
The Assembly also heard O’Neill will attend the chamber to answer an urgent oral question regarding her presence at Sunday’s protest next week, after she failed to do so on Monday.
DUP MLA Philip Brett had tabled the urgent oral question asking O’Neill to explain how her attendance at the protest was in keeping with her pledge of office as an MLA.
O’Neill defended her presence at Sunday’s protest, which was not notified to the Parades Commission and was therefore deemed illegal, in the Assembly earlier on Monday, saying she had attended in her capacity as the vice president of Sinn Féin, not as First Minister.
On Tuesday, speaker Edwin Poots gave an update to the Assembly, saying O’Neill had initially indicated she would attend to answer the question that day, but later informed him she was unable to do so because of “another urgent engagement.”
O’Neill and McDonald were in Dublin on Tuesday afternoon for a meeting with Taoiseach Micheál Martin to discuss the ongoing stand-off at Drumcree.
Poots said he had been given an assurance O’Neill would attend next week and he was content the matter was resolved.
‘There has to be an intervention,’ says McDonald
“The situation now on the Garvaghy Road is very urgent, there has to be an intervention,” said Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, reports Political Correspondent Harry McGee.
McDonald, along with First Minister Michelle O’Neill, went to meet the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste at Government Buildings.
“The march has to be stopped and the person with the discretion to do that is the British Secretary of State.”
“They expect the Government here in Dublin — their government, because they are Irish citizens.
“They expect that their government intervenes and demands that the British Secretary of State stop sitting on his hands and delaying matters and intervenes now, as is his right and his power, to stop this march.”
She said she will be asking Simon Harris and Micheál Martin to “intervene directly now and ask the British Government to do the right thing.
“Every day that passes, the pressure on the community grows, and I think it’s fair to say that you couldn’t overstate the kind of trauma that has now been revisited on the community.
She said that community life and family lives are “completely disrupted”.
“The level of damage that has been done to relationships across all communities is immense, and the longer this goes on, the more that will deteriorate.”
She said that “28 years of peace” in the Garvaghy Road area is now “in jeopardy”.
“This proposal for a sectarian march, an Orange march, down the Garvaghy Road, travelling through a Catholic neighbourhood, is part of a broader charter, a rejectionist charter. People want to drag us all back to the past,” she said.
First Minister has not been contacted by PSNI following attendance of protest on Garvaghy Road
Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill said she has not been contacted by the police over her attendance at an unlawful protest against the Drumcree parade in Co Armagh.
Arriving for a meeting with Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris, O’Neill was asked if she had been contacted by the PSNI and whether she expects to be arrested following her attendance, she replied: “No, I have not. And no.”
O’Neill has faced criticism from unionists after she attended the unlawful protest in Portadown when she stood alongside residents on the Garvaghy Road.
O’Neill and other senior colleagues were among a large crowd that blocked the road in the predominantly nationalist area to prevent the Orange Order Drumcree parade from taking the route. - PA
Garvaghy Road residents to tell NI Secretary they will not accept a parade
Garvaghy Road residents will tell the Northern Ireland Secretary of State Chris Bryant that they will not accept a parade, at a meeting on Tuesday evening.
Asked as he arrived at Hillsborough Castle for the meeting, what his message to Bryant is, representative of the community, Breandán Mac Cionnaith said “reroute the sectarian parade, that’s it”.
“No parade is no parade, that’s it.”
“That’s what our community wants. That’s what almost 4,000 people living in our community want and we gave that evidence to the Parades Commission last week.
“A signed petition, signed by 4,000 residents. That’s our mandate.” - PA
Opinion: Drumcree standoff puts a significant achievement of the peace process at risk
“No talking, no walking” was the position of the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition from the outset of the dispute in 1995, writes Newton Emerson.
If Portadown District Orange Lodge would not talk to residents, they would not agree to a parade.
The Orangemen would not talk because they believed they needed no consent from residents to walk “the Queen’s highway”.
They did engage in shuttle diplomacy in 1995, with mediators moving between both sides until a parade was agreed. But the lack of direct contact led to mutual misunderstanding: residents thought they had a respectful compromise; Orangemen thought they had won.
Notorious scenes of jubilation outside Portadown’s Orange Hall destroyed the deal and have left residents wary ever since.
This deadlock has defined Drumcree and the British government’s strategic response: the creation of the Parades Commission in 1998.
Read the full article here.
Government Chief Whip rejects calls for Dáil debate on Garvaghy Road
Government Chief Whip Mary Butler rejected calls in the Dáil for a debate this week on the Garvaghy Road crisis, reports Parliamentary Correspondent Marie O’Halloran.
“I think it’s important that efforts involved in the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the UK Secretary of State and importantly the communities, are allowed to continue,” she said.
She was responding to calls from People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett for an “urgent debate” about the Garvaghy Road crisis. He said his call last week was ignored, and the crisis had developed.
The Irish Government and British governments have a responsibility to make sure “communities are free from sectarian intimidation,” he said.
“That was ignored, and we saw the escalation last week and that is still not resolved.
“Can we have an urgent discussion to make sure this Government and this Oireachtas discharge its responsibility in that regard,” he asked.
Independent Laois TD Brian Stanley backed the call for a debate. He said the only reason the parade was given the go ahead for the Orange Order was to “demonstrate supremacy and dominance over the national community there”.
Delegation from Portadown Orange Order arrives at Hillsborough Castle for talks
A delegation from Portadown Orange Order has arrived at Hillsborough Castle for talks with Northern Ireland Secretary of State Chris Bryant.
The group was accompanied by their legal adviser, loyalist activist Jamie Bryson.
The delegation, which includes District Grand Master Nigel Dawson, did not speak to the media on arrival. - PA
‘We need to be careful of’ placing responsibility on the PSNI, says Taoiseach
In response to Labour leader Ivana Bacik’s question, the Taoiseach said “we need to be careful of” placing responsibility on the PSNI, reports Parliamentary Correspondent Marie O’Halloran.
Micheál Martin said “I think the PSNI would say there were caveats to that”. He paid tribute Chief Constable Jon Boutcher who had one “clear objective” that he “didn’t want one ear and one head hurt or injured”.
“We should be clear about supporting the PSNI in that objective and avoiding any action that would precipitate injury or harm to people,” he said.
He said the manner in which the decision was allowed seemed to suggest there were “clear issues” if they were “only allowing 35”.
“We need to focus on how we can bring all different dimensions to this together and how we can have a conversation and develop a conversation between the communities involved to try and resolve this once and for all or to get a pathway to resolution of this.”
“I think we now need to concentrate on how we get a resolution to this, which will not be easy,” he said.
Bacik: ‘We must not abandon’ residents
Labour leader Ivana Bacik said it was a “failure of Northern Ireland’s political system that the situation remains so tense and volatile today,” in the Dáil, reports Parliamentary Correspondent Marie O’Halloran.
Residents “may well feel that the institutions set up to protect peace have abandoned them. So we must not abandon them.”
She said as co-guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement, the Taoiseach has a “role in restoring trust”.
She warned “there are sinister actors who want to see mediation fail, who want to explore the dysfunction in power sharing and in devolution to bring down the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement and we cannot allow them to win”.
Bacik asked if the Taoiseach had questioned the PSNI as to “why it told the parades commission that the Drumcree parade could safely take place, as it clearly could not”.
First Minister ‘proud’ to be involved in Garvaghy Road protest
The DUP and the Orange Order have made complaints to police about the presence of a number of Sinn Féin representatives at the protest on Sunday - including Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald, vice president and Northern Ireland’s First Minister, Michelle O’Neill - which prevented it from proceeding along the Garvaghy Road, reports Northern Editor Freya McClements.
In the Stormont chamber on Monday, O’Neill defended her participation, saying she was “proud” to be involved and she would assert the rights of the residents of the Garvaghy Road “to live their life free from fear and intimidation … all day long and every day.”
PSNI continue ‘to review evidence gathered’
The Police Service of Northern Ireland’s (PSNI) “significant public safety operation” remains in place on the Garvaghy Road.
In an update on the Drumcree policing operation, Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson said: “Overnight, we have continued to engage and assess how best to balance the rights of all parties.
“We will continue to explore and keep under review a range of tactical options to safely bring this matter to a conclusion and keep the peace.
“Our dedicated enquiry team are continuing to review evidence gathered to ensure an effective criminal justice strategy,” he said.
Taoiseach ‘relieved’ that those directly involved are ‘open to mediation’
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he did not think “one intervention” was going to resolve the situation on Garvaghy road, reports Parliamentary Correspondent Marie O’Halloran.
Responding to Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald’s call for him to call on the British government and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to stop the parade, he said he had been in touch with British prime minister Andy Burnham and they had discussed the situation over the weekend.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee “has been in constant contact with the secretary of state”.
He said “if we’re honest, I don’t think it’s as simple as that” to have “one intervention” to stop the parade.
People “have to stand back and there has to be some collective pathway determined with some degree of mediation”.
Describing the situation as “deeply depressing” the Taoiseach said there are “a number of complications to this that transpired over the weekend”.
He said it “calls for creative thinking” to “create a pathway of reconciliation and trust, building on the platform of work that has been underway in this community for quite some time, building on that platform to create a long-lasting peaceful resolution of this”.
He added: “I understand fully that feelings are very high, but this is a time for all of us to be calm and to be careful in what we say and what we do.
“I am relieved that those directly involved are open to mediation” and he supported the idea of an “independent international figure, to play a role in supporting and encouraging mediation and negotiation”.
McDonald calls on Taoiseach to inform British prime minister and NI Secretary of their responsibility to end this ‘nightmare’
In the Dáil, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said the Irish and British governments have a responsibility to ensure “there is no Orange Order march down the Garvaghy Road,” reports Parliamentary Correspondent Marie O’Halloran.
She said the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland “can stop this sectarian march being forced down that road and that is what he must do, because the way to restore peace and calm is this”.
“That is the way to resolve this crisis,” she insisted and called on Taoiseach Micheál Martin to inform “the British prime minister and the Secretary of State of their responsibility to end this nightmare and to stop this march and to allow the people of the Garvaghy Road and beyond to return to their peaceful lives”.
She asked the Taoiseach to “impress upon the British government and the Secretary of State, that he can no longer sit on his hands. He has to intervene and stop this march.”
McDonald asked “why when a generation has grown up without this intimidation, without this fear, why is there such determination to reopen this dispute and override the clearly expressed wishes of the community”.
But she asked “how was such an incomprehensible and wrong decision arrived at? What changed?”
The “days of second-class citizenship are over” and there would be no return to the past.
For mediation to succeed “the community need to have the threat of this sectarian march lifted”.
Photographs near Drumcree Church on Tuesday
NI Secretary arrives at Hillsborough Castle ahead of further talks
Northern Ireland Secretary of State Chris Bryant has arrived at Hillsborough Castle ahead of further talks aimed at resolving the Drumcree parading dispute.
Bryant travelled to Co Down after delivering his speech at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool.
He is due to host delegations from the Orange Order and Garvaghy Road residents. - PA
Determination remains ‘live,’ says Portadown Deputy District Master
Earlier, Portadown Deputy District Master Alistair Power told reporters that the determination by the Parades Commission to grant the parade remained “live,” reports Northern Correspondent Seanín Graham.
It had previously been suggested that the controversial determination – which was challenged in the High Court during a marathon series of 14-hour hearings at the weekend – lapsed by midnight on Sunday.
Portadown district also told police on Tuesday that they are ready to walk down the Garvaghy Road when the PSNI is ready to facilitate it.
The lodge has accepted a second invitation from Northern Ireland Secretary of State Chris Bryant at Hillsborough Castle this afternoon.
Its statement added: “We must all be governed by the same law and expect our rights under it to be vindicated.
“Ours have been denied and despite having used the law and obtaining a clear determination in our favour, the message being sent now is that this counts for nothing and instead, it is those who break the law who are rewarded and prevail.
”If this persists then in general, the rule of law collapses but in particular parading regulation collapses as any group, on any side, will know all they must do to override the Parades Commission is to put a mob on the street and the Chief Constable will wilt.”
Orange Order makes criminal complaint against Michelle O’Neill and Mary Lou McDonald
The Orange Order has made a criminal complaint against First Minister Michelle O’Neill and Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald over their participation in the Garvaghy Road protests, reports Northern Correspondent Seanín Graham.
Portadown District Lodge confirmed on Tuesday it made a formal complaint to the Chief Constable in relation to four alleged offences “including under the Serious Crime Act 2007”.
In a statement, it said the rule of law has been “hugely damaged”.
“Faith in the law continues to erode as the PSNI continue to facilitate an unlawful mob thumbing their nose at the legal determination and our courts,” it added.
“The impact of this cannot be underestimated. As a society, we must all be governed by the same law, and expect our rights under it to be vindicated.”
O’Neill and McDonald stood with thousands of protestors on the Garvaghy Road on Sunday morning ahead of the planned parade by 35 members of Portadown district, which was due to begin at 8am.
Sinn Féin has been contacted for comment.
‘Parades Commission got this extraordinarily wrong,’ says Harris
It is “essential” that peace and order are maintained as the stand-off over the planned Orange Order march on the Garvaghy Road continues, said Tánaiste Simon Harris, reports Political Correspondent Cormac McQuinn.
The Fine Gael leader said what has happened and the decision of the Parades Commission to allow the march “has really been extraordinarily triggering, traumatic and devastating for a community that has suffered far too much.”
He expressed his hope that a solution can be found that understands this.
Harris also said: “We can never again see a nationalist community left behind in the North and this is simply an appalling situation”.
Speaking to reporters in advance of Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting Harris responded to a suggestion that Garvaghy Road residents believe the Irish Government was slow to respond to events.
Harris said he is “disappointed and saddened” to hear that and mentioned that he met Garvaghy Road residents last week and said there has been “very intensive engagement” and “very strong” comments from Taoiseach Micheál Martin over the weekend.
He said he himself has been in touch with political leaders in the North and “the Irish Government is very clear in relation to this.
“My very strong view is that the Parades Commission got this extraordinarily wrong.
“But that part perhaps is for another day.”
He added: “What is most essential now is that the very unique and traumatic circumstances and the history of that trauma are understood in finding a solution and finding a way forward and I really do also hope that at this very tense moment that the ongoing efforts to ensure that while this stand-off is in place that peace is maintained, that good order is maintained”.
He acknowledged that this has been the case “in relation to both sides of the dispute so far and it is absolutely essential that that continues in the hours an days ahead.”
International mediator over Drumcree parade dispute ‘likely’
An international mediator over the Drumcree parade dispute is “likely the direction that we’re going in” and “would be welcome on all sides,” said Minister for Foreign Affairs, Helen McEntee.
“I think it’s important that we have someone that would understand the situation first and foremost,” she told RTÉ.
“This is a very complex situation and as we know there has been significant trauma and there has been significant challenges over the years.
“That’s why we haven’t had a march in 28 years, that’s why it’s really important that we do not go back to the challenges of the past and to the trauma that was inflicted on communities there.
“So I think this is an option to move forward…with the agreement of the communities and with the wider political support today so I hope that we will be able to see progress in that regard."
Breandán Mac Cionnaith profile: The ex-IRA man who Tony Blair said ‘took unreasonableness to an art form’
To have been a fly on the wall when Breandán Mac Cionnaith met Northern Ireland’s Secretary of State Chris Bryant on Monday afternoon would have been interesting. Former Labour prime minister Tony Blair could have briefed Bryant on what to expect, writes former Northern editor of The Irish Times Gerry Moriarty.
In his memoir, Blair remembered the Drumcree “nightmare” that began in the mid-1990s. He didn’t specify whether he was referring to the Orange Order or the Garvaghy residents, or both,, but his view was that “the Drumcree people were the unreasonable of the unreasonable of the unreasonable”.
“In the Premier League of unreasonableness, they left every other faction and every other dispute gasping in their wake,” he wrote.
And then he lighted on “this one guy, Breandán Mac Cionnaith”.
He painted a picture: “He took unreasonableness to an art form. He conceded nothing, and I mean nothing. I’m not just talking about the substance of meetings, I mean where a meeting should be held. Who should be there. Who shouldn’t be there. When it began. When it ended. What its purpose was. Who spoke first. Who spoke last. Who spoke in between first and last.”
Read the full article here.
Secretary of State to fly back immediately to Belfast
Bryant is to fly back immediately to Belfast from the Labour Party conference in Liverpool , though it is likely to be mid-afternoon before he will have the opportunity for direct talks with the Orange Order, the Garvaghy Road residents and political parties.
Bryant insisted he will go ahead of reforms of Northern Ireland’s legacy commission, though he pointedly insisted that such a body will be able to offer truth to the families of British soldiers and Northern Irish security forces, just as much as it will for any sector of Northern Ireland’s population.
‘Nobody, nobody, nobody wants Northern Ireland to return to 1990s’
The Drumcree parades crisis is setting Northern Ireland back years, Northern Ireland Secretary of State Chris Bryant said, urging all sides to “double down” on compromise, reports Ireland and Britain Editor Mark Hennessy.
Addressing a half-full hall at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, Bryant said he had wanted to be speaking about all the things that are going well in Northern Ireland, “not about Drumcree”.
“I had wanted to stand up here and boast about the news that Northern Ireland has the fastest economic growth of anywhere in the United Kingdom, and the lowest unemployment ... But the situation in Drumcree is tense.”
The British government “like every Labour government, will always go the extra mile for peace,” he went on, adding that he will return to Hillsborough talks to end the crisis this afternoon.
“That’s precisely what I will be doing this afternoon. Bringing both sides together, talking over one bridging sectarian divide and giving compromise a chance.
“Because nobody, nobody, nobody wants Northern Ireland to return to the 1990s.
“That’s not going to be easy. As the last few days have shown, it’s really easy to stir up a grievance. Much harder to calm it down. Which is why I appeal to everyone. Believe in Northern Ireland and double down on compromise.”
Portadown district to meet Secretary of State this afternoon
Alistair Power, the deputy district master of the Portadown District of the Orange Order, said members will walk down the Garvaghy Road when police tell them it is safe to do so.
“Portadown district has accepted a second invitation to go and meet the Secretary of State today and we will be doing that this afternoon,” he said.
“The position of the district remains that we still have a live document, the 11/1, which is the parade from the 27th September to bring this district down along its traditional route, via the Garvaghy Road, to complete its parade in Carleton Street.
“That is the position. We have asked the police when they can take that road and bring us down the road safely; we will be here to do that.”
Map of the Orange Order parade route
More talks on way with NI Secretary, says senior Orangeman
A senior Orangeman said further talks will take place with Northern Ireland Secretary of State Chris Bryant to attempt to find a resolution to the Drumcree parading dispute.
The deputy district master of the Portadown District of the Orange Order, Alistair Power, is among a small group of lodge members who have remained at Drumcree Church waiting to take part in a march that would pass along the mainly Catholic Garvaghy Road in Portadown.
He said: “We are still at the stalemate from eight o’clock on Sunday morning.
“The police are still giving us an assessment that they cannot police us safely down the Garvaghy Road.
“We have left it with them that we are here and waiting until they can give us safe passage to complete our 1998 parade which was given to us by the Parades Commission with 35 Orangemen, under really restrictive conditions from the Parades Commission but we accepted that and we wish to bring our banner back home.”
Power said Bryant had not indicated what the further talks would be about.
He said: “Let’s see what’s on the table and hopefully everybody can come and get this done and resolved for everyone.” - PA
McEntee: ‘difficult few days’ for Garvaghy Road residents
Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee has called for continued calm among communities in Northern Ireland as she acknowledged the “difficult few days” for residents on the Garvaghy Road.
Speaking on her way into Cabinet, Helen McEntee said: “It’s very clear that this has been very difficult for all communities in Northern Ireland. It’s been a very difficult few days for the residents on the Garvaghy Road and it has been difficult for all political parties.
“I want to acknowledge and commend the restraint that has been shown and to call for continued calm. It’s really important that people engage, that is the only way we will find a solution through this.
“I expect today that there will be further engagement with the community. I expect there will be further engagement with the Orange Order.
“I hope to see a process put in place that will allow people the time and space.
“People have been up late at night. It has been a very challenging time, particularly for the community, and it is really important that this is resolved through dialogue, but also it’s really important that people in the community do not have a march forced on them, where very clearly this is not something that people want.” - PA
‘We make for the sacrificial lamb’, Garvaghy Road residents told
Breandán Mac Cionnaith from the Garvaghy Road Residents’ Coalition has said he believed the British government has a “game plan” to make the residents appear “unreasonable” and the Orange Order “look good”.
Speaking to those gathered on the Garvaghy Road on Monday night, Mac Cionnaith said he accepted an offer of mediation provided they were an “independent mediator with no connection to here”.
He said an offer was made to host a meeting of the British government, the residents’ association and the Orange Order to agree on a mediator.
“That’s not how mediation works,” he said, adding: “Those involved in a dispute don’t appoint the mediator.”
There would be more engagement with the British government over the coming days, he said.
“But I believe the British government already have their game plan in place and it’s to make us to be the unreasonable ones and to make the Orange Order look good,” he said.
Mac Cionnaith said the issue went beyond Garvaghy Road, “because the British know that the political process here is already in crisis and that they need to be seen to give something to unionism”.
“And we make for the sacrificial lamb,” he said.
He reiterated that “Orange feet” on the Garvaghy Road was “not acceptable to this community” or nationalist communities “right across the North”.
Should the British government go down that path, “let it be on their head”, he told those gathered.
“Because they already know what the result of a march on Garvaghy Road will be,” he said.
While residents remain on the Garvaghy Road, so too do several Orangemen at Drumcree Church.
The Orange Order members made a number of attempts to proceed with their parade on Monday but were prevented from doing so by PSNI officers.
Further talks are due to be held today with Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Bryant.
However, he is scheduled to speak at a Labour Party conference in Manchester at 10am, so any talks involving him to find a way through the Drumcree crisis are unlikely before the midafternoon, Mark Hennessy reports.
Bryant hailed “positive conversations” on Monday.
Bertie Ahern urged parties not to return to ‘tribal past’
Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern has urged political parties in Northern Ireland not to return to the “tribal past” for the “short-term gain of winning of a few votes”, saying they would regret it by the end of next year.
Speaking on Tuesday morning as the Drumcree stand-off entered its third day, Ahern noted that the dispute over the Orange Order parade on Garvaghy Road “never finished” after the Good Friday agreement and the focus should be to “bring it to an end finally” by means of a resolution.
“I think really what we need to try and do is everybody calm down a bit. I think the First Minister and Deputy First Minister should have coffee or tea this morning and try and mend this because otherwise it’s a disaster because it will affect the institutions,” he said.
Ahern said Northern Ireland was now the fasted and strongest growth area for employment and investment across the UK, which the Executive “should be proud of”.
“So I really think if the parties believe for an election in six or eight months’ time, there’s some short-term gain of winning a few votes based on going back to the tribal past, I would really caution against that.
“They will regret that by the end of next year,” he said.
The next Stormont election is expected in May 2027.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland, Ahern added he remembered “painfully” how several parades were mediated after 1998 and “sorted out based on the fact that we made progress”.
“So it could open all that up and there’s an awful risk of that and we should not let that happen,” he said.
Once the Parades Commission made its determination, “everything was too quick”, Ahern added, noting the High Court came to a decision at 2.30am on Sunday, hours before the parade was due to take place.
“So I think the whole thing was choreographed far too tight, far too dangerous, and I think with the inevitability of what happened,” he said, referencing the resulting fallout.
Drumcree stand-off enters third day
Garvaghy Road is quiet this morning, following another night when hundreds of people stayed to deter any possibility the Orange Order’s march along the road could go ahead, Mark Hennessy reports.
Throughout the evening and night, the atmosphere was calm, with no sign of a presence by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). The nearest solitary squad car – not an armoured Land Rover – was hundreds of yards away.
Maintaining spirits, tea and sandwiches were given out free to residents and supporters, some of whom have come from south of the Border, while musicians played near tents erected near the junction where the road turns off for Drumcree.
Reporting back to residents on Monday afternoon following his meeting with the Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Chris Bryant, local residents’ leader, Breandán Mac Cionnaith urged people to stand firm.
Significantly, the residents’ group met separately with Bryant from Sinn Féin, and relations between the two sides have been prickly – with Sinn Féin doing much to stay on side with them.
Talks in Hillsborough are expected to resume later today after the Northern Ireland Secretary returns from the Labour Party annual conference in Manchester, though signs of likely compromise are few.
Last night, Bryant said he could “see a way through the mist”, but few others do, for now.
The residents are insisting on the appointment of an international mediators, while the Orange wants a written guarantee that its permission to march continues.
