{"id":640323,"date":"2026-09-30T06:58:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T06:58:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/640323\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T06:58:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T06:58:17","slug":"no-breakthrough-in-drumcree-crisis-as-taoiseach-tells-sinn-fein-he-wont-intervene-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/640323\/","title":{"rendered":"No breakthrough in Drumcree crisis as Taoiseach tells Sinn F\u00e9in he won\u2019t intervene \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The political crisis in Northern Ireland<\/a>, sparked by last Sunday\u2019s Orange Order<\/a> parade dispute at Drumcree, is no closer to being resolved. The standoff was continuing on Tuesday night after a second round of talks failed to bring a breakthrough.<\/p>\n

Northern Secretary Chris Bryant met separately with the order and the Garvaghy Road Residents\u2019 Coalition at Hillsborough Castle on Tuesday, but concerns are growing that the standoff could continue for some time. <\/p>\n

Talks are expected to resume on Wednesday, but with neither side giving any indication on Tuesday night that their position had changed, the prospect of an agreement appeared slim.<\/p>\n

Portadown district master Nigel Dawson reiterated that the Orange Order had the legal right to march. \u201cWe look forward to the law being applied to the parade,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

However, Garvaghy Road residents\u2019 spokesman Breand\u00e1n Mac Cionnaith said their message was: \u201cReroute the sectarian parade.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking to The Irish Times afterwards, he asked to meet with Chief Constable Jon Boutcher, asserting he was \u201cthe only person still left for us to meet, if he has the courage to meet us\u201d.<\/p>\n

In the Northern Assembly, there was a second day of angry clashes between Sinn F\u00e9in<\/a> and unionist politicians, while in the D\u00e1il, Sinn F\u00e9in leader Mary Lou McDonald<\/a> told Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a> the Northern Secretary could no longer \u201csit on his hands\u201d.<\/p>\n

McDonald asked the Government to encourage Bryant to use his powers by intervening and banning the march. <\/p>\n

Martin said he did not think it is \u201cas simple as that\u201d, adding \u201cone intervention is not going to resolve it\u201d. He stressed the need for people to \u201cstand back\u201d and called for \u201csome collective pathway . . . with some degree of mediation\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Drumcree: \u2018I want to stop all this in its tracks. I have five grandchildren; it\u2019s breaking my heart\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee said she believed it was \u201clikely\u201d an international mediator would be appointed to intervene.<\/p>\n

There remained a police presence in the Garvaghy Road area of Portadown on Tuesday night. Members of the Orange Order were still inside Drumcree church, while protesters continued to keep watch alongside the Garvaghy Road. <\/p>\n

Earlier on Tuesday, lawyers for the Garvaghy Road Residents\u2019 Coalition lodged a legal challenge to the court decision which overturned an earlier injunction banning the parade.<\/p>\n

The original determination by the Parades Commission granted a limited parade of 35 Orange Order members permission to march from Drumcree Church last Sunday.<\/p>\n

The fresh application argues the Parades Commission \u201cmaterially misdirected itself\u201d on the police assessment of the potential for disorder and had not given an \u201caccurate representation of the evidence received from the PSNI\u201d in its decision.<\/p>\n

The hearing is listed for the Court of Appeal in Belfast on Friday.<\/p>\n

McDonald and First Minister Michelle O\u2019Neill<\/a>, who is also Sinn F\u00e9in vice president, met the Taoiseach as well as T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris in Government Buildings on Tuesday to discuss the crisis.<\/p>\n

There have been calls from unionists for O\u2019Neill and McDonald to be prosecuted for their participation in the \u201cunnotified\u201d protest which prevented the march from proceeding on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Arriving at Government Buildings, O\u2019Neill was asked by the media if she had been contacted by police and if she expected to be arrested. <\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I have not, and no,\u201d she replied, adding that she would \u201ccontinue to stand with the Garvaghy Road residents\u201d.<\/p>\n

The PSNI has said it is reviewing the evidence gathered, and anyone who has broken the law will be prosecuted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The political crisis in Northern Ireland, sparked by last Sunday\u2019s Orange Order parade dispute at Drumcree, is no…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":640324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[14063,42,3658,43,2443,18254,3415,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-640323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-dup-links","tag-headlines","tag-mary-lou-mcdonald","tag-news","tag-northern-ireland","tag-orange-order","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\/640323","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=640323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}