{"id":645202,"date":"2026-10-05T07:04:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T07:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/645202\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T07:04:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T07:04:11","slug":"were-not-going-back-are-we-courts-may-be-the-only-way-to-end-drumcree-standoff-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/645202\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We\u2019re not going back, are we?\u2019: Courts may be the only way to end Drumcree standoff \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Claire Hanna, the SDLP leader, was in Dunnes Stores in the Annadale shopping centre off the Ormeau Road in Belfast<\/a> on Friday afternoon when she was approached by an anxious couple.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was, like, \u2018God, we\u2019re not going back. We\u2019re not going back, are we?\u2019,\u201d she says, referring to the danger of the Ormeau Bridge parade riots of the 1990s and 2000s happening again.<\/p>\n

Drumcree 2026, however, is not the same as the 1990s. Thankfully, it has not witnessed violence, and Portadown has mostly gone about its business quietly over the last week, free of disturbance.<\/p>\n

However, Hanna\u2019s quick conversation in the aisle reflects conversations across Northern Ireland<\/a> over the last week in the wake of Drumcree erupting again after nearly 30 years dormant.<\/p>\n

Garvaghy Road\u2019s residents return on Monday to the Court of Appeal to challenge last week\u2019s block on their bid to have the Parades Commission<\/a>\u2019s original Drumcree march permission reviewed.<\/p>\n

For now, there are lots of \u201cifs\u201d. If the courts rule that a judicial review is now warranted, and if the Orange<\/a>\u2019s permit is judged to have lapsed, then the matter must go back to the commission for a new ruling. <\/p>\n

Despite confusion about what the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI<\/a>) told the commission the first time, it is hard to believe it would say now a parade can peacefully take march.<\/p>\n

However, it could rule that the permission is still valid, heightening the pressure on the PSNI to clear the way \u2013 even though Chief Constable Jon Boutcher has already made his disapproval clear. <\/p>\n

Drumcree is both unique and not. Its history, the violence and bitterness that surrounded it during the 1990s, and before, gives it the primary place in Northern Ireland\u2019s list of flashpoints.<\/p>\n

However, it is but one of 3,813 parades notified to the Parades Commission in the year to March 31st\u2013 2,507 of them are Protestant\/unionist\/loyalist; 96 are Catholic\/nationalist\/republican; 171 are sensitive; 141 have conditions imposed.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Taoiseach questions Sinn F\u00e9in \u2018sincerity\u2019 over Garvaghy Road situationOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The concern now, not just for those living near the Ormeau Bridge but elsewhere too, is that hard-won local compromises will fray if Drumcree intensifies \u2013 or even that the damage is already done.<\/p>\n

But it is not just about parades. For many, the crisis has awoken sectarian hatred that had drifted into the background, but not disappeared.<\/p>\n

Standing outside Garvaghy\u2019s local Catholic Church on Thursday night, resident Paul Larkin talked of how Portadown has changed in the last 10 years or so, with Catholics now broadly comfortable in town.<\/p>\n

Broadly comfortable, but not entirely so: \u201cYou\u2019d still have that little bit of fear. They\u2019re not happy with us mingling in around the town in GAA<\/a> tops. But before, if you went into the town in one, you\u2019d have got the shit kicked out of you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Larkin is comfortable leaving the past in the past: \u201cChildren today don\u2019t know anything about this, shouldn\u2019t know anything about this.\u201d<\/p>\n

The danger is that the poison released by Drumcree\u2019s latest chapter will seep into broader society\u2019s bloodstream. \u201cI have a niece, a curious 10-year-old, never knew anything about the Troubles,\u201d said one local.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s actually turned bitter. She wouldn\u2019t have known anything about Orangemen, or anything like that. For the first time today, I heard her actually saying \u2018Orange bastards\u2019.\u201d <\/p>\n

Frankly, a solution is now likely only from the courts, since the binary \u201cmarch, or no march\u201d choice facing politicians is one from which most of them will not vary their oft-repeated stand.<\/p>\n

Watching Sinn F\u00e9in<\/a> on Garvaghy Road in the last week has been instructive: locals elect Sinn F\u00e9in representatives, yet they follow local residents\u2019 leader, Breand\u00e1n Mac Cionnaith\u2019s lead.<\/p>\n

The former jailed IRA bomber is not a Sinn F\u00e9in member, having quit the party 20 years ago over its decision to support the police. Since then, he has been a leading member of the politically dissident \u00c9ir\u00edg\u00ed.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Breand\u00e1n Mac Cionnaith profile: The ex-IRA man who Tony Blair said \u2018took unreasonableness to an art form\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

His local influence leaves Sinn F\u00e9in walking on eggshells, but that is a price worth paying because Drumcree is a political gift for the party in advance of next May\u2019s Stormont elections.<\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in has been in difficulties \u2013 its Stormont accomplishments few, its polling figures rocky. However, Drumcree has galvanised broader nationalist opinion \u2013 not just people who once supported the IRA, even if they do not want violence on the streets.<\/p>\n

The danger, perhaps, is over-confidence. Having thousands on Garvaghy Road over the weekend\u2019s rally, or a widely circulated social media video of \u201cMy Old Man\u2019s A Provo\u201d from Thursday night, contrasts with Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin\u2019s urging to \u201cdial it down\u201d.<\/p>\n

Relations between Sinn F\u00e9in and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) are poisonous. Neither is truly invested in making the Stormont Executive work, yet would prefer if the other was blamed for collapsing the institutions.<\/p>\n

On Friday, DUP leader, Gavin Robinson, clearly displayed his concern that matters could go over the edge, saying \u201ctoo many people have acted in a deeply reckless way\u201d.<\/p>\n

For the DUP, a successful march a week ago could have done much to defend its right flank from the predations of Jim Allister and the Traditional Unionist Voice in the coming elections.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0The south sees Drumcree and thinks: we don\u2019t want that sectarian mindset down hereOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Today, however, the still-blocked march poses higher hurdles for Robinson, especially since so many of his own people, such as local Portadown MP, Carla Lockhart, are less invested in Stormont\u2019s survival than he is.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, the hope of a Hillsborough talks genie is unlikely, especially since there are grumbles that Secretary of State Chris Bryant, newly in office, has yet to understand local politics\u2019 grim realities. \u201cPollyanna-ish, at times,\u201d said one observer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Claire Hanna, the SDLP leader, was in Dunnes Stores in the Annadale shopping centre off the Ormeau Road…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48512,9686,61,60,43,2443,18254,171620,21754],"class_list":["post-645202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-armagh","tag-common-ground","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-northern-ireland","tag-orange-order","tag-parades-commission","tag-police-service-of-northern-ireland-psni"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645202","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=645202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}