06-07-2025
- Politics
- Belfast Telegraph
Orange Order protest parade takes place at Drumcree as Commission says restriction ‘remains necessary'
Marchers applied, and failed, to walk down the Garvaghy Road as they have been attempting to for the last 27 years.
The Orange Order had previously walked the route as part of its traditional march every year on the last Sunday before the Twelfth.
The mid to late 1990s saw disputes over the parade escalate into widespread rioting and disorder across Northern Ireland.
In 1998, the newly-established Parades Commission ruled the Orange Order should not march down Portadown's mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road on the end leg of its annual march from Drumcree Church.
On Sunday, speakers including Deputy Grand Master Harold Henning and Nigel Dawson addressed Orangemen who had gathered.
DUP MLA for Upper Bann Jonathan Buckley was also pictured in attendance.
It was recently reported that Orange Order leaders appeared to have cut off contact with the Parades Commission over the Drumcree protest in the weeks leading up to the parade.
The commission has had no meetings about its ban on the return parade in Portadown, via Garvaghy Road.
It said: 'No further representations have been received in relation to this parade this year.'
In its determination on the march, the commission said the parade has a 'long and contentious history'.
Referring to outreach efforts in 2022, the Parades Commission explained that Portadown District LOL No 1 holds a weekly protest parade as part of its campaign for the restoration of the return parade along the Garvaghy Road.
The Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition has stressed that 'any attempt to process the notified route would cause significant community tension and is therefore non-negotiable'.
Residents say the trauma from the past still remains.
Portadown LOL No 1 says that being prevented from completing the route is 'an unjustified infringement of their rights'.
They have said their willingness to meet with residents still stands.
However, residents said previous attempts at dialogue were 'disingenuous and futile' as the District entered discussions 'without a willingness to compromise on the return route, the route being the main area of contention'.
The residents said that nationalists in Portadown had declared their continued willingness 'to accept an alternative, less contentious, route along Corcrain/Dungannon Road.
No further representations were received in relation to this year's parade, the commission said.
The Parades Commission determined that a restriction on the route 'remains necessary, proportionate and fair', reflecting 'the potential impacts on community relations in the immediate vicinity of Portadown and across Northern Ireland'.
It therefore has to follow a specified outward and identical return route, or participants are expected to disperse no later than 2.30pm from Drumcree Parish Church.
