Speaking on the issue Carla Lockhart MP said, 

“I welcome that the Parades Commission, which remains devoid of any confidence within the unionist community, has, under duress no doubt, finally commenced a mediation process concerning the ongoing denial of the right of Portadown District to complete its church parade and return its standard home.

This is a significant breakthrough. For many years, the Commission set its face against mediation and rewarded those who obstinately refused dialogue by granting them a veto over the peaceful exercise of the fundamental rights of Portadown Orangemen.

It is to the enormous credit of Portadown District that, despite the injustice and subjugation of its rights for 28 years, its members have acted with dignity, respected the rule of law and complied with unjust determinations without blemish throughout that time.

The District has now notified the Commission of a dramatically scaled-down parade. It is so peaceful, modest and benign that it is scarcely believable that anyone other than the most sectarian and intolerant could rationally object to it.

Portadown District now stands ready to engage in urgent and intensive mediation, both to consult on its notified parade and, without precondition, to explore a lasting resolution to the Drumcree issue.

The District has again reaffirmed its unequivocal commitment to peaceful and lawful means. We now await an equal commitment from those opposed to it. If that commitment is not forthcoming, the Parades Commission must confront the fundamental question of whether it will continue allowing the threat of disorder to prevail while the rights of those acting peacefully and lawfully are expunged.

It is my sincere hope that mediation can produce a lasting and equitable resolution which respects the rights of everyone. This is not about anyone winning or losing. It is about proportionately balancing competing rights within a lawful framework and upholding the principles of a democratic and pluralist society, including the duty to tolerate and respect the culture of others.

I note that Sinn Fein, having begun this process by ruling out mediation or talks and declaring Drumcree “closed” and “off the table”, now appears to recognise that it is very much on the table.

Such is its impotence, and the extent to which it has gaslit its own community, Sinn Fein is now desperately reaching out to the Taoiseach in an attempt to weaponise him in its continuing campaign to deny the basic rights of Orangemen.

If the Irish Prime Minister wishes to hear directly from Orangemen about how their rights have been subjugated, I am sure Portadown District would be willing to engage and explain its desire to build a rights-based society founded upon mutual respect and tolerance.

However, the constitutional position is clear. The regulation of parading is an internal matter for the United Kingdom. It is not the responsibility of the Irish Government, and any attempt by the Irish Prime Minister to meddle in this process would be wholly inappropriate.

Sinn Fein continues to speak about “protecting progress”. While that phrase may sound superficially attractive, let us be clear about what it means in practice: unionism must continue to give, while nationalism must continue to get.

That is not progress. It is supremacism.



I have tonight contacted the Secretary of State to express my concern about suggestions that the Irish Government may seek to interfere in this issue. I have also asked him to meet urgently with Portadown District, hear its concerns directly and support a lawful and equitable resolution.”