How the Parades Commission came to allow this year's Drumcree Parade after 28 years

Niall O'Connor

IN ITS DECISION released last Friday, the Parades Commission said that the Drumcree Parade was one of the most contentious and had resulted in extreme violence. Regardless, the commission still gave permission for the parade after 28 years of refusing it.

When we searched the body’s other rulings, there were a lot of parades of varying degrees of seriousness across the immediate Portadown area. 

But it makes it clear that this flashpoint parade, which takes place down the nationalist area of Garvaghy Road, is the most difficult. 

The initial application by Portadown District Loyal Orange Lodge Number One involved two bands and 60 participants. 

The parade’s most contentious part would take 15 minutes and start at Drumcree Church and make its way down Garvaghy Road and onto Victoria Terrace, then with the bands joining in it would then carry on further.

The legalistic Parades Commission document is laid out in paragraphs and is available on its website.  

The determination is clear in its language: “Of particular note is that, in the past, the
parade resulted in some of the most serious and sustained disorder in the history of Northern Ireland, including loss of life and serious injury. It has led to raised community tensions and disorder across Northern Ireland.”

The document also states that the commission carried out engagement in April to inform its findings. 

It also outlines how dynamic and complex the situation is on the ground in Portadown and how the two factions see each other.

“It is the most well-known parading dispute, with a legacy of violence and disorder, with effects that last until today. As is the case with other parading disputes in Northern Ireland, what is to one side a dignified manifestation of their cherished cultural heritage is to the other a crude display of triumphalism,” it said. 

Scene setting

It starts off setting out the wider scene, making statements that all sides in this dispute can agree on.

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“The annual Drumcree Church parade is one of, if not the most, contentious parades in Northern Ireland.”

The factions are ultimately identified as the Orange Lodge and the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition.

The Orange Order was committed to travel down the contentious route while the residents group outlines how it has difficulty understanding why the Loyalist marchers would not take a different road.

The residents told the commission of their “shock, fear, anxiety and anger” as the prospect of a parade loomed. The arguments for and against also looked at the demographics of the area. 

The PSNI also provided submissions, and they explained they had no information that the parade would result in “disorder or violence”.

In coming to a decision, the commission said it gave the police assessment “significant weight in the consideration of the potential for disorder”.

The commission said it took on board concerns by academics, residents and representatives in respect to the potential for disorder but said that there was no “specific information” suggesting it would result in violence.  

The decision

It noted the measures the organisers were willing to put in place to reduce the impact of the parade. 

It said it would have limited the proposed parade to 35 participants and move its start time to the early morning. The Commission also said that no bands would be permitted. 

“The Commission considers these conditions to be the least restrictive alternative means to achieve the aim of preventing disorder and protecting the rights and freedoms of others, in particular the rights of the residents of the Garvaghy Road and the impact of any parade on the community,” it said. 

It allowed the parade to go ahead and spoke about it striking a “fair balance” between both parties. 

“This decision is not, and should not be perceived, as a victory for one side or a loss for another. It is the outworking of the application of the legal framework to the facts available to the Commission,” it concluded.