Drumcree: UUP peer says Gerry Adams comments show blocking of Garvaghy Rd has 'boomeranged on the long-term aims of republicans'

The Ulster Unionist peer argues that the Drumcree stand-off has “backfired” on the republican party, after what he called a “massive effort” in recent years by those seeking to convince unionists to support an all Ireland state.

Sinn Féin MP Chris Hazzard said Sir Reg’s “outlandish commentary is hardly the barometer of the strength of the debate on Irish unity” and the “conversation on a new and united Ireland continues to grow”.

In recent weeks, Mr Adams has penned a public “open letter to my Orange neighbours” in which he said both they and the Garvaghy Rd residents deserved credit for the stand-off being peaceful.

He described Orange traditions as “an integral part of the culture and heritage of some of our Protestant and unionist fellow citizens” – but said there is “no divine right for any organisation to parade where it likes”.

Former UUP leader Lord Empey said that Mr Adams “thinks strategically” and it “was telling that he has intervened in the Drumcree dispute”.

“What has he said? He congratulated both the Orangemen and the Garvaghy Road residents on there having been no violence so far in this dispute, and went on to say how much he had enjoyed the contribution of musicians from the Orange tradition to the Fleadh in August: ‘That is the future. Embrace it. It is your future also’.

“Adams knows that the blocking of the Garvaghy Road has already boomeranged on the long-term aims of republicans. There has been a massive effort by those seeking to build support for a united Ireland amongst the pro-Union community. Groups like Ireland’s Future have been working hard and have enticed a few moderate unionists to attend conferences and seminars. This has been part of a long-term plan and has gained momentum in recent years.

“However, two recent events have severely undermined this campaign amongst pro-Union people. Firstly, the 2025 Irish presidential election campaign, won by Catherine Connolly, saw vicious sectarian attacks on her principal opponent, Heather Humphreys. Heather, a Protestant, is a former Fine Gael minister and Cavan–Monaghan TD. She has described the ‘toxic, targeted sectarian abuse’ she and her family experienced during the election, and has questioned whether there is a ‘hierarchy of Irishness’.

“Secondly, the Garvaghy Road situation has exposed Michelle O’Neill’s abandonment of any pretence of being ‘a First Minister for all’. Unionists saw Sinn Féin’s leadership flock to the Garvaghy Road to stop 35 Orangemen walking back from Drumcree Church to Carleton Street Orange Hall in Portadown at 8.00am on a Sunday. O’Neill, her party leader Mary Lou McDonald and Sinn Féin ministers all allegedly took part in what I consider unlawful activity. The message was clear. There is no room in republican doctrine for the Orange tradition. The Irish flag, the tricolour, is a fraud. It’s green only.

The Ulster Unionist peer added: “The irony of all this is that, while the republican movement has been focused on breaking the Orange Order and pursuing its “Brits Out” campaign, the Republic it would have us join is totally changing before our eyes. Ireland is not Ireland anymore. Eurostat, the EU statistics agency, estimated that in 2025 almost a quarter of the Republic’s population was born outside Ireland. We have also seen the social housing figures for Dublin and Louth. In Dublin, 42% of those waiting for social housing are non-Irish, including 9% from Somalia. In Louth, 34% of social housing allocated between 2020 and 2024 went to people born outside the Republic. I have seen a graph which predicts that, at the present rate of immigration, native Irish people will be a minority by 2050.

“Mary Lou was forced to apologise to ‘her people’ for not grasping this issue, which is fuelling disquiet in Dublin, and to perform a U-turn on Sinn Féin’s approach to immigration. Maybe the distraction at Drumcree was a welcome break from her failures in her own back yard. Republicans may have got rid of the Brits, but they have turned the Republic into the go-to place for large-scale migration. Hardly what the men and women of 1916 had in mind, I suggest”.

Sinn Féin MP Chris Hazzard said: “Reg Empey and other unionist leaders’ outlandish commentary is hardly the barometer of the strength of the debate on Irish unity.

“Contrary to their claims, the conversation on a new and united Ireland continues to grow.

“A new and united Ireland is about building a future where everyone is treated equally, where all traditions are respected and where no one is treated as a second-class citizen.

“That means leaving behind the days of sectarianism, Orange supremacy and discrimination against nationalists, which marked the decades of his own party's one-party government rule.

“The support for Garvaghy Road residents from within the Protestant and unionist community was a powerful rejection of sectarianism and demonstrated that political unionism does not speak for everyone it claims to represent.

“Respecting the Orange tradition does not mean denying nationalist communities their right to live free from sectarian intimidation and harassment.”