Orangmen withdraw from Drumcree mediation talks

The Orange Order in Portadown, Co Armagh, has withdrawn from mediation talks with South African lawyer Brian Currin, blaming the intransigence of the Garvaghy Rd residents for the move.

In a statement released this morning, the Portadown District of the Orange Order said it has been trying to resolve the dispute over the Drumcree parade for years.

However, it said these efforts have been frustrated by Catholic residents on the Garvaghy Rd, who, the Orange Order said, have no desire for a solution. The Orangemen also said the objections to the Drumcree parade are purely sectarian.

The Portadown District said it has written to Mr Currin thanking him for mediating between the two sides. However, they have withdrawn from the mediation process because, they said, the Catholic residents have moved the goalposts at every juncture.

A spokesman for the Garvaghy Rd residents said the Orange Order’s move comes as no surprise as this is the second time it has rejected a mediator appointed by the British government.

The Parades Commission has banned the Orange Order from marching down the nationalist Garvaghy Rd because the Orangemen have consistently refused to engage in dialogue with their Catholic neighbours.

The Orangemen claim they have the right to "march the Queen’s highway", but the Garvaghy Rd residents object to the anti-Catholic triumphalism and sectarianism that the Drumcree parade is centred around.

In the 1970s, 1980s and even 1990s, those participating in the Drumcree parade often attacked Catholic homes along the way while the RUC stood by and watched.