Prominent Drumcree Orangeman says it would be 'sensible' to shun Parades Commission until its board goes - and adds that a Garvaghy Road march with no music may prove acceptable to the order
A long-time spokesman for the Drumcree Orangemen has said that refusing to deal with the Parades Commission until its current board is removed is a “sensible” approach.
David Jones, who is now a lay member of Portadown district rather than a spokesman for the order, also suggested that a parade down the Garvaghy Road without any music may be accepted by Orangemen.
It comes as a decision is awaited by the Secretary of State Chris Bryant over whether or not to sack the remaining five members of the Parades Commission, following last week’s scathing High Court judgment against them.
The remaining commissioners (one has so far resigned) were given a deadline of the end of Friday to convince him that they are capable of carrying on in their roles.
At time of writing, Sir Chris had yet to make a decision.
The prospect of a march down Portadown’s Garvaghy Road for the first time since 1997 has been raised thanks to a court case challenging the ongoing refusal to allow marchers to take that route from Drumcree Parish Church into the centre of the town.
Mr Justice McAlinden had pointed to what he called the commission’s “errors”, “short cuts”, and “sloppy procedures” when deciding to continue its historic block on the march.
Mr Jones was Portadown district secretary when the dispute flared in the 1990s until he stepped down from the role five years ago.
He remains active in the district (he belongs to LOL 322) but no longer holds office.
He was asked about the idea that loyalists should no longer co-operate with the commission under its current leadership (by, for example, refusing to notify it of upcoming parades).
"Personally I feel that would be a very sensible option to take,” Mr Jones said.
"You can’t possibly continue to deal with a quango that isn’t nearly fair and just.”
He added: “That’s people power.”
If Sir Chris does not sack the five remaining board members, then “he just has to deal with the repurcussions of that” – such as “non-compliance” with the commission.
"If the Secretary of State doesn’t decide to do something, then he too has absolutely no understanding of the problems of this situation and what the Parades Commission has been doing,” he said.
"Somebody has to wake him up and smell the coffee."
Should Sir Chris go if he doesn’t act?
"If he doesn’t do anything and the situation doesn’t improve then I’m sorry to say the buck stops with him,” said Mr Jones.
When it comes to the nature of any parade and what marchers may be willing to accept, he said: “The last parade that took place down the Garvaghy Road, it only was members from Portadown district itself – there were no visitors allowed.
"There were no banners or anything carried, because there doesn’t be on a Sunday parade, and there was no music playing...
"So those things have all effectively been done.”
He had been on parade himself that day “in total silence... just the sound of feet”.
Mr Jones added: “The Orange would be quite prepared to do that, I would say.”
The veteran Orangeman also said: "It’s been recorded that the parade itself only takes 12 minutes.
"One has to say that people are being very uptight about a parade along the road when we’re talking about 12 minutes on a Sunday at lunchtime, where really there’s not an awful lot of people about on the Garvaghy Road to be held up from going about their business.”
He said that it is only “a small group of people” in the Garvaghy Road area who object to it, “for no other reason than that they don’t like the Orange Order, and they don’t like anything British, and they don’t like anything unionist – that is what the fundamental problem comes down to”.
The notion of non-compliance with the commission had been raised earlier by Jamie Bryson, one of the people who led the High Court challenge.
Mr Bryson said: “It would seem that if confidence in commission is not restored, then it may well be the case that bands and lodges would take the approach of abandoning the current notification process, and in my view giving the public law issues around apparent or actual bias, they may well have reasonable excuse for doing so under the law.
“Of course PSNI or the Secretary of State could still be notified, but it just seems inconceivable that this parading framework could continue to operate with these commissioners in post.”