Bacik calls for all available steps to be used to prevent Garvaghy Road march
Bacik calls for all available steps to be used to prevent Garvaghy Road march - The Labour Party
Labour Leader Ivana Bacik TD has called on the Irish and British Governments to take urgent steps to prevent an Orange Order parade from proceeding along the Garvaghy Road in Portadown. Raising the issue with the Taoiseach in the Dáil today, Deputy Bacik said residents had described their fear and distress to her when she met them last Thursday. She said the Parades Commission’s decision on Friday to permit the march had reopened deep wounds, and pressed the Taoiseach to use all available channels to protect the community.
Deputy Bacik said:
“Residents of the Garvaghy Road need to know that every available step is being taken to prevent this march. As a co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement, the Irish Government must work with the British Government and the Northern Ireland Executive to restore trust, press for credible mediation and seek an explanation of the PSNI advice given to the Parades Commission. If mediation fails, the Taoiseach should call on the Secretary of State to consider using the power under section 11 of the Public Processions (Northern Ireland) Act 1998 to prohibit the parade.
“The right to uphold a tradition does not remove the responsibility to consider its impact on others. The overwhelming majority of parades in Northern Ireland take place without difficulty. This route has been curtailed for nearly thirty years because of its particular history and the harm a march along it could cause. The Parades Commission’s decision to permit it was wrong.
“I welcome the Taoiseach’s call for calm and the contact between the two Governments. But his response in the Dáil offered no commitment to appoint a mediator or a clear account of what this Government will do to prevent the march. Calls for calm must be matched by practical action, including a clear call on the Orange Order to de-escalate.
“Labour is calling for every available peaceful step to ensure this march does not take place on the Garvaghy Road. Residents deserve to know that the institutions established to protect peace will stand with them. This Government must act now.”