Sir Chris Bryant has said he “utterly” rejects that he “in any way succumbed to mob rule” in striking down a ruling allowing the Orange Order to march on the Garvaghy Road.
The Northern Ireland Secretary acknowledged that his decision to halt the march at the centre of the Drumcree dispute will have caused “bitter disappointment”.
First Minister Michelle O’Neill said “the Orange state is gone forever” as she responded to a motion of no confidence in the Stormont assembly over her attendance at the protest on the largely nationalist enclave.
The row has engulfed Northern Ireland politics since the region’s Parades Commission ruled more than two weeks ago that the Portadown district of the Orange Order should be allowed to march through the largely nationalist enclave for the first time in 28 years.
Following the ruling thousands of protesters blocked the Garvaghy Road preventing the march from going ahead, joined by a number of Sinn Féin representatives including Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald and vice-president Ms O’Neill.
Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald and Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill at a community event in support of the Garvaghy Road residents (Mark Marlow/PA)
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Sir Chris intervened to overturn the decision saying he had been advised by PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher that allowing the march to go ahead could lead to serious disorder, and potentially “catastrophic” consequences for Stormont and the peace process.
Making a statement in the House of Commons, Sir Chris outlined the options discussed during extensive negotiations between the Garvaghy Road residents and Portadown Lodge, including a ‘one and down’ final march or the Lodge accepting it had won the right to march but agreeing not carry the march out.
He thanked the lodge for their “constructive engagement” saying “their commitment to upholding the law and their co-operation with the police has been absolutely vital in maintaining calm and order”.
“I recognise that, having received a determination permitting them to march after 28 years, they will feel bitter disappointment at its prohibition,” he said.
Sir Chris also thanked the Garvaghy Road residents, saying they “made clear to me the profound anxiety this dispute has brought, relighting painful memories”.
“I deeply regret that we were not able to reach a compromise on a way forward,” he said.
Sir Chris claimed he overturned the Parades Commission decision to let the march go ahead because “the situation has changed considerably” since the original determination.
“I did not want to see the stand-off continue into another weekend, with the consequent risk of protests spreading to other parts of Northern Ireland and the further deterioration of community relations,” he told MPs.
Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Chris Bryant walks from Hillsborough Castle to speak to the media (Liam McBurney/PA)
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DUP leader Gavin Robinson said: “For the last 28 years, no Secretary of State has ever used Section 11 powers, even when there was actually violence, actual disorder, and guns on the street.
“People in Northern Ireland know that this is more about obstruction on the road. They know that it is a threat of violence from terrorists, and they know that this British government has bent the knee to them.”
In his reply Sir Chris said: “I do, however, utterly reject the charge that I have in any way succumbed to mob rule.
“The truth is, things have actually passed remarkably peacefully. There has been no major disorder.
“Now, lots of people lobbied me or provided advice over the airwaves on how to deal with the situation, but I don’t think anybody seriously proposed that the police should drag people off the street.
He added: “The rule of law is not just a single headline, and it’s equality before the law, transparent laws, the separation of powers, an independent judiciary, and access to justice.
“All of these things are actually in remarkably fine fettle in Northern Ireland.”
Orangemen turn away from a police barricade close to Drumcree Church formed to prevent them entering the Garvaghy Road (Brian Lawless/PA)
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On Monday evening, the Northern Ireland Assembly debated four non-binding motions, backed by the three unionist parties, alleging Ms O’Neill, Finance Minister John O’Dowd, Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald and Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins broke their pledge of office through backing the Garvaghy Road residents in the Drumcree parade dispute.
The motions, which were ultimately voted down, would have required cross-community support to pass.
Ms O’Neill told MLAs that a section of political unionism is determined to “drag us back”.
“They have tried to turn back the clock. Turn it back to a failed past of sectarian domination and inequity, and unfortunately, they are leading the rest of political unionism by the nose,” she said.
“So when unionist politicians talk about the mob, when they demand that the sanitising of the Garvaghy Road is done, what they really, really mean, what they’re actually saying out loud, is what they want, which is – they wanted the PSNI that they should have beat and dragged peaceful residents off their own road over the last number of weeks, just to allow a triumphalist and sectarian march through this small Catholic community.
“Because that is what the RUC and the British Army did in the years gone by. What they did willingly, I would add.
“But I would say to those in political unionism this is not 1690. This is not 1921. It’s not 1969. It’s not even 1997.
“It’s 2026, folks, and the Orange state is gone forever. There is and will be no going back.”
Mr Buckley said Sinn Féin’s “new Ireland project stands dead in the streets of Portadown” and said the Orange Order “do not seek domination”.
TUV MLA Timothy Gaston said “Northern Ireland is at a crossroads” as he called on DUP leader Gavin Robinson to remove deputy first minister Emma Little-Pengelly, therefore also taking Ms O’Neill from her post.
Mr O’Dowd said nationalists “will never, ever again be beaten off the streets to satisfy the needs of regressive political unionism”.
UUP leader Jon Burrows said: “Unlike Sinn Féin, I will say to the Protestant unionist, loyalist community, notify the parades, notify your protests, don’t break the law.”
He added: “(Mr Buckley) is right. Your new Ireland is dead in the water. It died on the Garvaghy Road.”
Alliance deputy leader Eóin Tennyson said: “If the past few weeks have shown us anything, it’s been that we have been deluding ourselves,” he said.
“We have simply been managing division and sectarianism in this society, rather than doing the hard yard of breaking it down and overcoming it once and for all, that needs to be our priority now.”
First Minister Michelle O’Neill (Mark Marlow/PA)
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In a statement, Mr Boutcher stood by the policing of the stand-off saying that while the PSNI have been “mindful of the importance of facilitating the determination”, he said that “did not mean, as many people have suggested, that the police had to ensure the parade could proceed at all costs”.
He added: “The place for resolving this dispute must not be on the streets of Northern Ireland.”
Earlier on Monday, a judicial review was heard in court from members of the Orange Order challenging Sir Chris’s decision to halt the parade.
Mr Justice Scoffield ordered a rolled up hearing in the judicial review case, which will combine two stages of the process into one hearing.
The challenge has been widened to include Mr Boutcher.