Statement by Martin Duffy, Leas-Uachtarán, Sinn Féin Poblachtach (Republican Sinn Féin), An Lorgin, Ard Mhacha

As Leas-Uachtarán of Sinn Féin Poblachtach, and as someone who stood alongside the people of Garvaghy Road during the darkest days of the Drumcree conflict, I state without hesitation that the proposed Orange Order parade along Garvaghy Road on Sunday, September 27 should not take place.

Sinn Féin Poblachtach does not recognise the legitimacy of the Parades Commission, British courts or British-appointed institutions to determine the rights of the Irish people. Our rejection of those institutions, and of the Stormont Agreement and the political structures flowing from it, remains unchanged.

But even within the British system, the consequences of forcing an Orange parade through Garvaghy Road have long been recognised. In 1998 the Parades Commission prohibited the procession from entering the entire length of Garvaghy Road, taking account of the history of conflict and the potential damage to community relations.

We cite this not because we recognise the Commission’s authority, but because even within that system the reality of Drumcree was impossible to ignore.

Almost three decades later, it should not be ignored now.

I WAS THERE — AND I HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN

Some of us do not need commissions, courts or reports to tell us what happened at Drumcree. We were there.

I stood alongside the people of Garvaghy Road when nationalist residents were confronted by British Crown forces because they refused to accept an Orange parade being imposed upon their community.

I was beaten. I still carry the scars.

We remember the batons, barricades, armoured vehicles and massive security operations. We remember a confrontation whose consequences spread far beyond Portadown.

We remember too the terrible human cost of the sectarian violence surrounding those years: Michael McGoldrick, murdered in 1996; Robert Hamill, fatally beaten by a loyalist mob in Portadown in 1997; and Richard, Mark and Jason Quinn, three young brothers burned to death when their Ballymoney home was petrol-bombed during the 1998 Drumcree crisis.

They were human beings, not footnotes in history. Their names remind us where sectarian hatred and confrontation can lead.

THIS IS ABOUT PRECEDENT

We are told this proposal is different: only 60 Orangemen, no music along the disputed section, and a short procession to “bring our bannerette home”.

But the Orange Order has made clear that a limited parade would not end the Drumcree dispute and that its objective remains the return of the full Portadown District along Garvaghy Road.

That is why this is not simply about 60 men walking quietly down a road. It is about precedent.

If 60 are permitted today, what follows tomorrow? Does a limited procession become an annual event? Does a silent parade eventually become the full parade?

We have travelled this road before. There is no reason to travel it again.

The recent High Court proceedings do not establish an Orange Order entitlement to parade along Garvaghy Road. They concerned the procedure by which the Parades Commission reached its decision.

The fundamental issue is much simpler: the people who live on Garvaghy Road do not want this parade imposed upon their community. Their wishes should be respected.

WHY REOPEN DRUMCREE?

This is 2026. Garvaghy Road is a living community whose residents are entitled to dignity and respect.

After almost three decades, why reopen Drumcree?

Why resurrect one of the most bitter sectarian confrontations of the 1990s? Why bring Orange marches back onto Garvaghy Road when an entire generation has grown up without them?

Would the Orange Order accept a republican parade marching through their own communities against their wishes? If the answer is no, then that answer applies here too. What isn’t acceptable one way isn’t acceptable the other.

Garvaghy Road has had almost three decades without this parade. Leave the people alone.

No bannerette is worth reopening those wounds. No parade is worth dividing a community.

I stood with the people of Garvaghy Road then.

I was there. I was beaten. I still carry the scars.

If they are faced with this imposition again, I will stand with them again.

THE ROAD TO A LASTING PEACE

Drumcree also reflects the wider reality of partition and Britain’s continued presence in Ireland.

Sinn Féin Poblachtach maintains that the ultimate solution does not lie in British courts, commissions or institutions established to administer British rule. We demand a declaration of intent from the British government to withdraw from Ireland, followed by dialogue among all sections of the Irish people on their shared future.

We put forward Éire Nua, based upon a four-province federal Ireland, as a framework for that discussion — one which decentralises political power while protecting the rights, traditions and identities of all sections of the Irish people, including the Unionist population.

Garvaghy Road should remind us what happens when one tradition attempts to impose itself upon another.

A lasting peace must instead be built upon freedom, mutual respect and agreement.

Do not reopen Drumcree.

Martin Duffy

Leas-Uachtarán

Sinn Féin Poblachtach (Republican Sinn Féin)

An Lorgin, Ard Mhacha

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