THE ANNUAL Drumcree church parade passed off peacefully yesterday despite Orangemen being banned again from returning to their lodge in Portadown along the nationalist Garvaghy Road.
Marchers were stopped at a police barrier a short distance from Drumcree church as they have every year since 1998 following serious and widespread violence in preceding years.
Despite the protracted impasse over the march, there were positive signs at the weekend of a fresh determination to reach a local agreement.
The Orange Order along with the Parades Commission, which rules on contentious marches, and First Minister Peter Robinson have said they would strive for a resolution by next year.
Darryl Hewitt, Orange district master in Portadown, said the Order was “ready, willing and able to enter face-to-face mediation with no preconditions”. Speaking at the police barrier, Mr Hewitt referred to efforts by Orangemen every Sunday in the year to complete their return march to Portadown from the church.
“We attempt to complete our parade each and every Sunday – a fact that most people in Northern Ireland are not aware of – and there is a presence on the Hill every night.” He said Orangemen march for “civil and religious liberty” for all and not just for members of the loyal orders.
Incoming head of the Parades Commission Rena Shephard, who was present yesterday at the barrier, approached the marchers informally and said she wished to discuss the situation with them when she took up her post.
Peter Robinson confirmed at the weekend that he has written to both the Orange Order and Breandan MacCionnaith of the Garvaghy Road residents’ body offering separate meetings on a possible settlement.
In a statement the First Minister acknowledged the importance and significance to unionists of Orange parades. “I have written to both groups inviting them to meet separately with me in order that we may discuss a possible and agreed basis that would enable progress to be made leading to a resolution of this matter,” he said.
“I have written to both the Orange District and the residents group in good faith and I hope that they will feel able to respond in a positive manner. By demonstrating a common-sense approach, I am certain that we can find a way through on this issue.
“I will do all I can to help progress this matter to a consensual conclusion but I would be equally content if in the preliminary discussions the two parties agree on some other approach or arrangement which might reach the outcome that everyone in Portadown and indeed throughout Northern Ireland wishes to see.”
Mr Hewitt said yesterday that Mr Robinson’s offer of meetings was a welcome initiative.
“The First Minister’s statement is, we believe, a valuable contribution to the process and given goodwill on all sides has the ability to move the situation forward.” Orangemen would “not be found wanting,” he said.
Mr Hewitt criticised a speech by Martin McGuinness two weeks ago in which the Sinn Féin Deputy First Minister warned: “The days of republicans stretching ourselves and our communities to maintain calm in the face of sectarian provocation cannot last forever.” Mr Hewitt called on Mr McGuinness to stop lecturing Orangemen on where they can and cannot march. “[He] keeps talking about a ‘shared future’, but the message must go to him from this place today that all we can see is that his notion of a shared future is his past.”