Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Orange hope for Drumcree ban change
ORANGEMEN banned for 20 years from completing a controversial parade have insisted their determination to overturn the prohibition has not dimmed.
The Drumcree parading dispute in Portadown, Co Armagh, was a major flashpoint with the event marred by violence a number of times.
While tensions have dissipated over the last two decades, Portadown Orangemen continue to campaign to be allowed to walk along the predominantly nationalist Garvaghy Road. They hold a small protest every week.
The Parades Commission has prohibited the Garvaghy section of the parade since 1998.
At the annual main Drumcree parade yesterday, Darryl Hewitt, the Grand Master of Portadown District LOL No 1, accused the body of “pandering to a hardline republican agenda”.
He challenged Secretary of State James Brokenshire to dismiss the Commission members.
Mr Hewitt said: “The call from this place this afternoon is the Secretary of State must show some mettle, and once and for all sack the whole lot of them.
“However, we attempt to complete our parade each and every Sunday – a fact that most people in Northern Ireland are not aware of.
“This has been the case since July 1998 when our late District Master Harold Gracey said that we would remain on protest until our rights have been restored.
“Our resolve has not diminished over the weeks, months and indeed years.
“No one should be in any doubt, Portadown District are in this for the long haul.
“We will not be deflected from seeking to achieve our objective.”
In its determination on the 2017 Drumcree parade, the Commission said preventing Orangemen from accessing the Garvaghy Road was “necessary, proportionate and fair”.