The Orange Order today expressed its dismay, disappointment
and disgust at the decision by the Parades Commission to once
again ban Orangemen from walking back along the Garvaghy Road
after their annual church service at Drumcree this Sunday
(July 7)
Officers of the Order's Portadown District will now request
a formal review of the Commission's determination banning
the parade for the fifth year running.
Commenting on the Commission's decision, David Burrows, Deputy
District Master of the Portadown Orangemen said : "The
Garvaghy Road dispute has come to symbolise the victimisation
of Northern Ireland's Unionist community. If we want to give
peace a chance in the Province, the Parades Commission must
be abolished."
Mr Burrows said he was at a loss to understand the latest
ban given the undertakings the Portadown District had given
to the Commission in return for the parade being approved.
These include face-to-face talks with the nationalist Garvaghy
Road Residents Coalition and Government representatives under
the chairmanship of Archbishop Eames to discuss security and
monitoring arrangements. It's hoped these talks could then
lead to wider discussions on resolving inter-community differences
in the Portadown area.
In addition the District has written to the Commission saying
that if a parade is granted they will immediately terminate
all protest action and call on their supporters to do likewise.
The parade itself would be restricted to members of Portadown
District only with just one band playing agreed hymn tunes
walking in an orderly fashion without stopping and carrying
just the Union flag and an ex-servicemen's standard.
"It's hard to see what more we can do to demonstrate
our goodwill", said Mr Burrows. "There are more
than half a million minutes in a year; all we are asking of
the Garvaghy Road residents on Sunday is a bit of tolerance
for just seven of them while we walk back from church along
our traditional route - then we can all put this dispute behind
us and get down to working out our differences."
Mr Burrows continued: "We're hearing a lot of conciliatory
noises from the Sinn Fein leadership at the moment about the
need to convince unionists about nationalist commitment to
the peace process. If they mean what they say they should
use their influence to ensure the Garvaghy Road Residents
Coalition allows our church parade and abandons its bigoted
and intransigent opposition which has blighted the Portadown
district and Northern Ireland as a whole for too long."
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