Health · Riyadh Daily
Talks aimed at resolving the Drumcree parade dispute have broken up without agreement, with Northern Ireland secretary Chris Bryant describing the situation as being between a “rock and a hard place”. A legal appeal over the contentious march is now scheduled for Monday, after unsuccessful late-night negotiations at Hillsborough castle with representatives from the Orange Order and Garvaghy Road residents on the fifth day of the standoff. The dispute began last week after the march along the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road was given the go-ahead by the Parades Commission for the first time since 1998 , a decision denounced by Sinn Féin as “madness”.
The Portadown District of the unionist Orange Order has been attempting to walk the route but have been turned back by police , while a coalition of residents and nationalist protesters have blocked the route, expressing opposition to the march going ahead. Talks to break the deadlock over the controversial Drumcree parade were launched earlier in the week, but on Thursday Bryant told reporters “we haven’t come to a settled agreement and it’s a shame but my door remains open obviously, tomorrow and in future days. “We’ve discussed a wide range of options, including mediation, including an option where the right to march was respected but wasn’t exercised, including an option where there was a final march and no further applications for marches into the future, and we’ve not managed to come to agreement on any of all that.” Chris Bryant arrives at Hillsborough castle for talks on Thursday.
Photograph: Liam McBurney/PA The legal bid over the parade decision which was launched by residents had been due to be heard on Friday but was postponed until Monday to allow talks to continue. Loyalist activist and legal adviser to the Orangemen Jamie Bryson said they will accept the determination of the legal appeal on Monday as he challenged residents of Garvaghy Road to commit to walking away if their bid fails. Speaking after the talks ended without agreement on Thursday night, Bryson said: “The challenge that we would put down to the Garvaghy Road residents – they’re going to the court of appeal on Monday – if the court of appeal upholds this determination, commit to accepting the law and walk away, and we’ll do the same.
“Abide by the law, and if the court of appeal upholds the determination, get off the road, stop breaking the law, and allow the parade to go ahead,” Bryson said, adding “If we lose, we’ll accept that.” He was accompanying Portadown District master Nigel Dawson, who said they had a “right to walk down the Garvaghy Road”. Breandán Mac Cionnaith, of the Garvaghy Road Residents’ Coalition, told reporters Bryant wants residents and the Orange Order to reach agreement but contended that “the reality is” there is “no such thing as half a march”. He said: “There’s a march, or there’s not a march – simply that.” Mac Cionnaith had previously said residents would back proposals which emerged from talks on Wednesday if the Orange Order also did so – but this was rejected with DUP MP Carla Lockheart telling the Press Association the deal was “not acceptable”.
Bryant was also urged to use his powers to cancel the parade by 14 members of the US Congress. The Congressional Friends of Ireland Caucus, including Richard Neal and Brendan Boyle, said: “Without decisive action, we risk reopening one of the most painful chapters of Northern Ireland’s history and undermining nearly three decades of peace, stability and reconciliation made possible by the Good Friday Agreement.” Meanwhile, the Northern Ireland Policing Board heard the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) operation around the parading dispute has topped £3m. A major policing operation was put in place at the weekend when the court challenge to the determination by the Parades Commission to allow the Drumcree parade to proceed along the Garvaghy Road failed.
While the visible policing presence has reduced, police described the situation in Portadown as “remaining challenging and complex”, but said despite very significant tensions, there has been no violence and nobody has been injured.
Source: The Guardian
