First Minister Michelle O’Neill has described the reaction from unionist politicians to Tuesday’s High Court ruling on the Drumcree parade dispute as “triumphalism” and “an ugliness”.
Leading unionist politicians from the DUP and TUV stood alongside Orange Order figures and loyalist activist Jamie Bryson after the Parades Commission conceded it had made a procedural error in how it dealt with an annual application for permission to walk along the route in the majority Catholic area of Portadown.
Not all six members of the commission had signed off on the final determination before it was issued last month.
The Drumcree Church parade has been banned from walking through the Garvaghy Road district since the late 1990s, when the dispute sparked major disturbances and saw several loyalist murders including the deaths of three children.
The High Court decision is not a reversal of previous Parades Commission determinations to block the Orange Order march, but the group has indicated it will make a fresh application for the commission to consider.
Ms O’Neill visited the Drumcree Community Centre on Wednesday where she said the local community was “anxious” about what it had seen from unionist politicians in the wake of the ruling.
“This is a community that is also anxious, very anxious by what they saw yesterday, a triumphalism that was expressed by the leaders of unionism standing shoulder to shoulder claiming a victory over this community,” the First Minister said.
“Clearly the Parades Commission need to reflect on yesterday’s ruling around the procedural point and they need to be transparent about how they do their job.
Jamie Bryson pictured talking outside the court with Orangemen and politicians including the DUP’s Carla Lockhart and TUV leader Jim Allister. PICTURE: COLM LENAGHAN
“But I think we need to remind everybody why we have a Parades Commission. It was to remove policing and political interference from this very situation.
“But the anxiety felt by this community yesterday was what they saw on display by the leaders of political unionism.
“What they saw was an ugliness, what they saw was harking for the days of the past.”
Asked whether she believed Garvaghy Road residents should speak to the Orange Order about the possibility of a parade marching through the area, Ms O’Neill said residents had been “crystal clear” on their position.
“I think the Garvaghy Road residents have been crystal clear and firm down through the years, over the last three decades. They do not want this parade down this road.
“Why do the Orange Order want to push a parade down this road? Would it be acceptable to unionism and to the Orange Order for a nationalist or republican parade to go down through the Shankill Road?”
Breandan Mac Cionnaith of the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition said the group was “not refusing talks” with the Orange Order, but that the organisation had approached previous negotiations with a “predetermined outcome”.
The Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland issued a statement on Tuesday which hit out at the Parades Commission for what it called a “failure to recognise the willingness of Portadown District to enter into dialogue with the residents of the Garvaghy Road”. It also claimed that the residents association had “abjectly refused” talks.
“The whole issue about talking with the Orange Order, the Orange Order comes on every occasion with a predetermined outcome,” Mr Mac Cionnaith said.
“What’s the point of having any talks if there is going to be a predetermined outcome?
“I am not refusing talks. But what I am saying is I will not accept any preconditions.”
In a statement issued later on Wednesday, DUP Leader Gavin Robinson said Michelle O’Neill’s comments “reveal a disturbing a lack of interest in how a public body was found to operate”.
He added: “It will be lost on no-one in Northern Ireland how the ‘First Minister for All’ appears to take no issue with a public body that has been found to act unlawfully. It’s not triumphalist to expect that applications made to the Parades Commission should be considered properly, in line with legislation and without the inherent disrespect that was revealed during the recent application.
“We often hear that the law should be applied equally, but Michelle O’Neill’s blind spot when it comes to a legitimate application by Portadown District Lodge that was treated so dismissively, is revealing. She cannot wish away their rights and nor should she try.”