Orange Order parades in Ardoyne and Drumcree restricted by commission

A Twelfth parade will be prevented from marching through Ardoyne in north Belfast

The Parades Commission has placed restrictions on two Orange Order marches planned for July.

A parade which wanted to pass through Ardoyne in north Belfast on the evening of 12 July will not be permitted.

The commission said there was a "potential" for serious public disorder if it went ahead.

Earlier, it ruled a 3,000-person march on the Garvaghy Road in Portadown could go not ahead due to a potential impact on community relations.

The order had applied for a larger-than-normal annual Drumcree parade to mark the 25th anniversary of it being stopped from taking the route it wants.

It has not been allowed to take the route since the 1990s.

Ardoyne route 'breach' of agreement

Considering the application by north Belfast's Ligoniel lodge, the commission said it was "a breach" of a 2016 agreement, which ended trouble around parades in the Ardoyne area.

The commission said the march scheduled to begin at 18:30 BST on 12 July must stop at Woodvale Parade before reaching Ardoyne.

The decision was not unexpected.

It noted that the 2016 agreement sees five parades go past Ardoyne shops annually, but these take place at about 08:00 BST, including one on 12 July.

The Ligoniel lodge was one of the parties to the agreement, in which "it undertook to instigate a voluntary moratorium" on applying for an evening parade.

The lodge did not engage with the commission to explain its application.

However, in its determination, the commission said it "understands the organiser expressed frustration with the outworking of the 2016 agreement."

Thousands of Orange Order members will take part in marches next month

It is the second time that an Orange lodge has recently sought permission for a parade which the commission considers to be a breach of the deal.

Earlier in June, a Ballysillan lodge dropped its plans for a Whiterock feeder parade after the commission banned it from Ardoyne.

In its latest ruling, the commission said both applications served "only to heighten tensions in a period of political instability."

It also considered that the applications have jeopardised the "peaceful co-existence of two communities with a difficult history."

The commission ruling went on to state: "It threatens to undermine future efforts to manage parading in the area and endangers the continued development of positive cross-community relations."

The Crumlin Ardoyne Residents Association (Cara), which opposed the evening parade on July 12, had applied to hold a demonstration.

However, it has dropped the plan in light of the commission's decision.

Cara had told the commission that it considered the application for an evening parade to be "an act of bad faith and highly provocative."

The commission said Cara told it "significant damage" is being caused by the applications, further noting "they risk hardening attitudes and re-animating very negative elements".

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Flashpoint

Earlier on Thursday, the commission banned a planned Drumcree parade from entering Garvaghy Road over its impact on community relations.

Each July the Portadown Orange Lodge attends a service at Drumcree Parish Church to commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, which began on 1 July 1916.

Orangemen have been banned since 1998 from going down the mainly-nationalist Garvaghy Road after their annual march from the church.

The march was the biggest flashpoint in Northern Ireland's marching season in the 1990s and led to serious violence over several summers.

Orangemen, pictured at the Drumcree parade in 2022, had applied for a bigger parade this year

The first decision to re-route it away from the Garvaghy Road was taken in 1995, however after a two-day stand-off Orange Order members were allowed to walk down it, unaccompanied by bands.

It led to a famous scene of Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble and Democratic Unionist leader Ian Paisley walking down the road with their hands held in the air.

A similar stand-off occurred in 1996, with widespread loyalist violence, including the murder of Catholic taxi driver Michael McGoldrick before the parade was again allowed down the road.

The last time the parade was allowed down the Garvaghy Road - 1997 - saw nationalist rioting in the area, which spread to other parts of Northern Ireland.

In 1998, the Parades Commission - set up in large part due to the events at Drumcree - was in place and was legally responsible for making decisions on contentious parades.

The parade was banned from the Garvaghy Road and despite a lengthy standoff, that remained the case.

There were further protests and violence around the parade in 1999 and 2000.