Michelle O’Neill declares Drumcree march dispute settled, warns against reopening route
First Minister Michelle O’Neill said the controversy over the Orange Order’s proposed Drumcree parade on Garvaghy Road is closed and should not be revisited.
During the first session of the Stormont assembly after recess, First Minister Michelle O’Neill announced that the long-standing Drumcree dispute over a parade on Garvaghy Road is "closed" and should not be reopened. She labeled the Orange Order’s recent application for a limited march as a direct provocation against the mainly nationalist residents. The Parades Commission, which has blocked the route since 1998, will now consider a request for 60 members to march on September 27.
Unionist figures such as TUV MLA Timothy Gaston and UUP deputy leader Diana Armstrong condemned the commission after a High Court ruling nullified its July determination, and commissioner Billy Gamble has resigned. Sinn Féin MLA John O’Dowd and Alliance MLA Eóin Tennyson warned that reviving the march would reopen old wounds from a 28-year conflict that claimed 21 lives. The debate underscored ongoing tensions between political unionism, the Orange Order and the Garvaghy Road community.
