Gordon Lyons backs Orange Order bid to return Drumcree march to Garvaghy Road

By Claudia Savage, Press Association

Communities Minister Gordon Lyons has said he would be supportive of the Orange Order making an application to march on the Garvaghy Road after a Parades Commission decision to limit the Drumcree route was struck down.

The DUP minister also said there was “a huge amount of anger” in the unionist community over the commission’s decisions to impose restrictions on the annual Orange Order parade in Portadown.

The legal challenge, which was launched last month, had been brought by a Portadown Orangeman.

The Parades Commission, which adjudicates on contentious marches, has blocked the order from marching along the Garvaghy Road in Portadown in July every year since 1998.

I think most people will be shocked, in fact outraged, at the way in which the commission made their decisions

At the High Court in Belfast on Tuesday, this year’s determination was quashed after the court heard the determination had not been considered in its “final form” by all members of the commission.

In a statement, the Parades Commission said it had already “implemented procedural changes to address the issue identified in the proceedings”.

Mr Lyons said on Wednesday the unionist community had “absolutely” lost confidence in the Parades Commission.

“It lost it a long time ago, but what we had yesterday was just another example and very clear evidence of how that has happened,” he said.

“I think most people will be shocked, in fact outraged, at the way in which the commission made their decisions.

“Decisions being signed off on by commissioners that haven’t even read them, business being done in that manner by WhatsApp, so there’s a huge amount of anger out there in the unionist community.

“I think that anybody that’s interested and is concerned about good governance should be worried about what has come out of court yesterday in terms of what was made public about the goings-on of the commission, so very, very limited confidence, I would say, across the country.”

In 1998 and previous years, there was widespread disorder because of tensions around the march along the Garvaghy Road.

Any future parade along the road would require a new application to the Parades Commission.

Asked if he would be supportive of the Orange Order making an application to march on the Garvaghy Road, Mr Lyons said: “Of course, because everybody deserves the right to have their application determined in a fair way, with all of the factors taken into consideration.

“Unfortunately, people have been penalised, the Orange Order have been penalised in that area because they’ve been willing to engage with local residents, but because local residents haven’t been willing to engage, they have essentially held that veto powers.

“That is wrong, and there are big lessons here to be learned, and we certainly welcome all of the information that was revealed in court yesterday.”