27th anniversary of Drumcree Sunday: Carla Lockhart urges Secretary of State Hilary Benn to take action over Parade Commission ‘failure’

The 27th anniversary of Orangemen trying to complete their 1998 march takes place tomorrow.

Portadown Orangemen will peacefully attempt to complete the return leg of their parade from their annual Drumcree Parish Church service along the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown to their lodge in Portadown – something they have been trying to do almost every Sunday since the route was blocked by police in 1998.

The stand-off at Drumcree made headlines in the 1990s with nationalist residents of the Garvaghy Road resolutely opposed to the parade passing through the area, leading to violence for several summers locally and across NI.

Portadown District Master Nigel Dawson told the News Letter: “This is the oldest church service in the history of the Orange institution so it's an excess of 300 years old. So there is, there's a lot of heritage and a lot of history attached to it and that's why it's such an important and significant parade.”

He has taken part in the Drumcree parade for almost 40 years, and he is the only district officer left from the year the trouble first began, in 1995.

Aside from the Covid pandemic and the foot and mouth scare, Orangemen have attempted to complete the parade every Sunday since 1998, he said.

The Parades Commission said it engaged with both sides in 2022.

The Orangemen, it said, reasserted their commitment to parading back along the Garvaghy Road, but offered to compromise on the size, time and form of the parade.

However, the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition (GRRC), stressed that the parade would cause “significant community tension and is therefore non-negotiable”.

It added that this would “bring to the fore issues, anxieties and fears, which the residents consider should remain in the past and which could have wider ramifications”.

The commission concluded that the ban “remains necessary, proportionate and fair” and “reflects the potential impacts on community relations in the immediate vicinity of Portadown and across Northern Ireland”.

But speaking after a recent meeting with Secretary of State Hilary Benn and Orange district masters, Upper Bann DUP MP Ms Lockhart called on him to take action.

“The secretary of state listened carefully, and I welcome his commitment to consider what has been said. But words must now be followed by action," she said.

“This is a dispute that has now persisted for over 25 years, and in that time we have witnessed a sustained effort from Portadown District to seek dialogue, to be respectful, and to pursue a peaceful and lawful resolution."

She queried on what evidence the commission bases its decision on the ‘potential for public disorder’.

“Who is making that assessment? Is it based on PSNI intelligence or simply a threat from those who oppose the parade? There was no clarity, and that is deeply concerning.”

In response, the Parades Commission said it has “consistently encouraged all parties to enter into dialogue to achieve an accommodation which meets the needs of the local communities”.

A Northern Ireland Office spokesperson said: "The Secretary of State met with officers from Portadown LOL and Carla Lockhart MP on Thursday 26 June. He appreciated the opportunity to hear about their concerns in relation to the annual Drumcree parade. "The Secretary of State highlighted that the Parades Commission is the independent public body overseeing public processions in Northern Ireland and encouraged the group to engage with the Commission. "The Parades Commission continues to have our full support in their important role in relation to parades across Northern Ireland."

In July last year the order applied to complete their march on the day Armagh was playing the All-Ireland GAA final, but the commission refused.

Sinn Fein and Breandán Mac Cionnaith of the GRCC were invited to comment.