Sep 28, 2026 · 46 min · 9 segments
Tensions continue to rise on the Garvaghy Road as protestors prepare for a second night blocking a disputed Orange Order parade. With calls for calm, what does the standoff mean for the future of…
Gavan ReillyHost
Fionnán SheahanPanelist
Aidan ReganPanelist
Megan O'BrienPanelist
Before 1998, the Parades Commission in Northern Ireland was not a statutory body.
Throughout the 1990s, it routinely recommended against the Orange Lodge holding marches through the Gervachie Road in Portadown, but the Lodge proceeded to attempt them anyway.
That was seen as provocative, it was a show of supremacy, and it prompted sectarian tensions not just in Portadown, but also far beyond.
Some of the resulting Loyalist violence, for example, included an arson attack that killed three boys in one family, the Quinns, in Ballymoney in County Antrim.
1,300 times since then, the Portadown Loyal Orange Lodge has sought permission for a parade and it's been refused every single time.
This summer, however, after once again being denied a parade to coincide with July 12th, the Lodge sought a judicial appeal which found some issues with how the Parades Commission has been making its decisions.
That included, for example, the fact that not all six members of the Commission were often consulted about some of the findings.
Now, in doing so, the Commission cited the input of some unionist politicians who said that granting the parade would assure the Protestant community about the Commission's adherence to the rule of law.
The Commission also said, twice, that the PSNI had advised it that there wouldn't be any unusual level of disorder or violence if the parade were to go ahead, albeit at eight in the morning with no music or no bands and only 35 marchers allowed to gather.
The subsequent protests of the residents who don't have a licence to hold their own gatherings has led us to where we are now.
Before 1998, the Parades Commission in Northern Ireland was not a statutory body.
Throughout the 1990s, it routinely recommended against the Orange Lodge holding marches through the Gervachie Road in Portadown, but the Lodge proceeded to attempt them anyway.
That was seen as provocative, it was a show of supremacy, and it prompted sectarian tensions not just in Portadown, but also far beyond.
Some of the resulting Loyalist violence, for example, included an arson attack that killed three boys in one family, the Quinns, in Ballymoney in County Antrim.
1,300 times since then, the Portadown Loyal Orange Lodge has sought permission for a parade and it's been refused every single time.
This summer, however, after once again being denied a parade to coincide with July 12th, the Lodge sought a judicial appeal which found some issues with how the Parades Commission has been making its decisions.
That included, for example, the fact that not all six members of the Commission were often consulted about some of the findings.
Now, in doing so, the Commission cited the input of some unionist politicians who said that granting the parade would assure the Protestant community about the Commission's adherence to the rule of law.
The Commission also said, twice, that the PSNI had advised it that there wouldn't be any unusual level of disorder or violence if the parade were to go ahead, albeit at eight in the morning with no music or no bands and only 35 marchers allowed to gather.
The subsequent protests of the residents who don't have a licence to hold their own gatherings has led us to where we are now.
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