Drumcree parade dispute mediator quits

The South African mediator who has been trying without success to resolve the long-running Drumcree Orange Order parade dispute announced he was quitting tonight.

Brian Currin said that as Portadown Orangemen had withdrawn from the mediation process last month ‘‘I am, therefore, unable to take the process any further’’.

He said the Orangemen had cited a lack of trust in the rival nationalist Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition as the motivation for their withdrawal from mediation.

‘‘In any mediation, where there is no trust there cannot be a successful process,’’ said Mr Currin.

A review of the operation of the Parades Commission which has blocked the Orangemen from marching down the Garvaghy Road in recent years has already been ordered but will not report until next autumn - well after the marching season.

In the circumstances Northern Ireland politicians now appeared to have the immediate responsibility of resolving the dispute, said Mr Currin, and expressed the hope that they were able to do so in a way which addressed the ‘‘fears, concerns, hopes and aspirations’’ of both sides in the dispute and the wider community.

But David Jones, spokesman for the Portadown Orangemen, conceded tonight that there was little chance of a change in the ban on their parade ahead of when they march next July.

He said they had pulled out of the mediation process because ‘‘very little had been achieved’’ over more than two years and ‘‘the thing was in a state of limbo’’.

Mr Currin said lack of trust was not the only impediment to him making progress. The Orangemen had on a number of occasions expressed not only their discontent with the mediation process but with mediation in general.

For the Portadown Orangemen the dispute was about the persistent violation of what they believed was their right to walk the Queen’s Highway. Time was, therefore, of the essence to them, he said.

On the other hand for the Garvaghy Road residents the dispute was about the long-term resolution of equality-based issues affecting the nationalist minority community in Portadown.

He continued; ‘‘Unfortunately, mediation is slow and laborious, and cannot enforce unilateral demands or deliver rights. That is the nature of mediation.

‘‘It is not a quick fix process. It is a long journey fuelled by commitment, hard work, persistence and compromise.’’

Mr Currin said as a result of proposals drawn up during the Weston Park talks chaired by Tony Blair and Irish counterpart Bertie Ahern earlier this year, for a review of the Parades Commission and applicable legislation, there was a perception within Orangeism that the mandate and role of the commission may be changed in a way which may result in a more accommodating approach to contentious parades.

That coupled with support for their cause from First Minister David Trimble, the trust issue and discontent with mediation in general made it ‘‘understandable, but also unfortunate’’ that the Orange lodge had decided to withdraw, he said.

Northern Ireland politicians now appear to be in the hot seat for trying to resolve the issue as far as next summer was concerned, he said.