{"id":638053,"date":"2026-09-28T00:58:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T00:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/638053\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T00:58:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T00:58:09","slug":"ni-secretary-to-face-fresh-demands-to-block-any-orange-parade-down-garvaghy-road-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/638053\/","title":{"rendered":"NI Secretary to face fresh demands to block any Orange parade down Garvaghy Road \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Chris Bryant<\/a> is set to face fresh demands to block any possibility of the Orange Order<\/a> being allowed to march down Garvaghy Road.<\/p>\n

The stand-off between Orange men at Drumcree seeking to march down the road \u2013 a Catholic estate in a largely Protestant town \u2013 follows two days of rising tensions that raise questions over the ability of Northern Ireland<\/a>\u2019s Stormont institutions to survive.<\/p>\n

The legal permission won<\/a> by the Orange Order after lengthy court battles on Saturday to march from Drumcree Church of Ireland to its headquarters in Portadown expired at midnight.<\/p>\n

The order now requires a fresh application to the Parades Commission<\/a> to see if its march is legal under 30-year-old legislation.<\/p>\n

However, the Northern Ireland Secretary has the power to overrule everyone, including the courts, and ban the march, though it is clear that Bryant, who was appointed to the job just two months ago, does not want to follow that route.<\/p>\n

The Labour politician will face renewed pressure on Monday in conversations with both nationalist parties, Sinn F\u00e9in<\/a> and the SDLP.<\/p>\n

Calling for calm again last night, Bryant said he would talk with all parties again. <\/p>\n

Late on Sunday, the majority of the few hundred Orange supporters who had gathered at Drumcree to support the order and oppose parades legislation had largely departed after 10pm.<\/p>\n

On the other side of the standoff, significant numbers of nationalists remained on Garvaghy Road.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of protesters spent Sunday blocking the route of the divisive parade after the court gave late-night clearance for the Orange Order to march on a historically significant road for the first time since 1998 as approved by the Parades Commission.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018It\u2019s like going back in time\u2019 \u2013 after 28 years, communities stand off on Garvaghy RoadOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Orangemen spent the day in Drumcree church, the planned starting point of the march, and said they would wait until police told them the road was clear.<\/p>\n

There appeared little or no chance of any serious attempt being made by the Orange Order to breach the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI<\/a>) cordon blocking the route, given that they have argued they are on the right side of the law in the case since the Court of Appeal sided with them.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Bryant and the PSNI will face significant pressure to investigate senior Sinn F\u00e9in figures, including the First Minister Michelle O\u2019Neill, for being involved in the Garvaghy protest, which is illegal under parading legislation and which does contravene the ministerial code signed up by Stormont ministers that they will abide by the law. <\/p>\n

However, there is little appetite on Bryant\u2019s part for any such prosecution.<\/p>\n

Bryant urged \u201ceverybody to keep calm\u201d and to co-operate with police as he pushes for a resolution and to find \u201csome kind of compromise so that people are able to go home\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Orange Order march could \u2018reawaken old animosities\u2019, Drumcree residents warnOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

He confirmed he would continue talking to all the main political parties on Monday following discussions on Sunday after cutting short his attendance at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool to travel to Belfast. <\/p>\n

He has said he did not have the powers to call off the march unless police formally requested him to do so.<\/p>\n

On Sunday evening, O\u2019Neill urged protesters to the \u201cstay the course\u201d by staying on the road until at least midnight, when the Parades Commission\u2019s approval expires.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo not give up at this stage; we have come this far, the people of Garvaghy Road need us to stay with them tonight,\u201d she told residents and supporters. <\/p>\n

DUP leader Gavin Robinson said Sinn F\u00e9in leaders must face prosecution.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t have a situation where people who have the privilege of holding high office in Northern Ireland so flagrantly disregard the pledge of office and statutory underpinnings of their office,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Decades after flashpoints of the 1990s, Drumcree is just as dangerousOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

For now, the next steps of the Orange Order are unclear. <\/p>\n

It has made clear that it will stay \u201can hour, a day, or 10 days\u201d to vindicate its rights. <\/p>\n

However, it cannot do this under the legislation without going back to the Parades Commission to secure fresh permission to march down the road.<\/p>\n

The Parades Commission\u2019s permission last week was based significantly on a judgment by the PSNI that a march by the Orange Order on Garvaghy Road would not provoke major public order issues \u2013 a judgment regarded as \u201cmadness\u201d by Sinn F\u00e9in and sharply criticised by the SDLP. <\/p>\n

The escalating political row over the parade has tested Stormont\u2019s stability, less than nine months before Northern Ireland\u2019s voters go to the polls.<\/p>\n

In Belfast, Robinson, the DUP leader, was asked whether he was prepared to continue to work with Sinn F\u00e9in. <\/p>\n

If either the DUP or Sinn F\u00e9in withdrew from Northern Ireland\u2019s powersharing executive, the devolved government would effectively collapse.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Claim Orangemen must march on Garvaghy Road because of tradition \u2018a nonsense\u2019, former SF staffer saysOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cOur party is maintaining the dignity of the Portadown Orangemen as they have shown determination and patience, so will we,\u201d said Robinson.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can look at you all in the eye today and say we are being plunged into difficult territory because of the actions of people who are expected to be lawmakers in our country breaking the law.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fundamental principle of upholding the rule of law in this society are sacrosanct and cannot be tarnished.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier, Sinn F\u00e9in vice president O\u2019Neill told reporters on the Garvaghy Road that the reignition of the Drumcree dispute \u201cbrings into question how this whole peace process works\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Chris Bryant is set to face fresh demands to block any possibility…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":638054,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[73902,42,3659,43,2443,18254,171620,21754,3415,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-638053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-chris-bryant","tag-headlines","tag-michelle-o-neill","tag-news","tag-northern-ireland","tag-orange-order","tag-parades-commission","tag-police-service-of-northern-ireland-psni","tag-sinn-fein","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=638053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}