Orange Order march banned from Garvaghy Road

Now, the question of how long it took Chris Bryant to step in, uh, I mean, someone might say he let the thing fester for a while.

Others would say he let it develop to see was action needed or could it be resolved locally.

Well, I think that all of this shows that there needs to be at least a look at or a reform of what goes on around the Parades Commission, those decisions, and then that legislation, which is the Public Processions Act.

And people will remember that this all came around in 1998 as the backdrop of a lot of violence around Drumcree.

And that was when that legislation was put in place and the Parades Commission was formed.

So remember what was happening in 1998, and that is what that legislation-

Mm-hmm

... was designed to cover.

So it's not really designed for the circumstances we find ourselves in in 2026.

And that seems to be part of the problem.

So the problem started whenever Parades Commission were asked to determine this.

There wasn't enough space given to allow [clears throat] mediation or an international mediator to be brought in.

Then they give their decision, and they give their decision at 2:00 on a Friday afternoon for a parade to take place on a Sunday morning.

So that resulted in emergency judicial reviews by the residents which went into court on a Saturday.

Then they managed to gain a temporary injunction at that stage.

It was appealed.

There was an appeal.

It went on till midnight.

And then there was another hearing that went on till 2:00 in the morning.

Now, none of that sounds very ideal, does it? If you're dealing with something as serious as this, all of that should have been done well, well, well in advance.

And then once the determination goes ahead, the parade couldn't go ahead because there was a protest.

And therefore, you understand the Orange Order's frustration at that.

But what happens then is the, the legislation is so ambiguous that no one could say when that parade stopped being live.

You know, some argued, well, when they didn't get down the road on the Sunday and the determination ended at half 9, did it end then? Did it end at midnight that night? Did it run on to the next day? As it turns out, it ran on for nearly two weeks, um, before the Secretary of State finally stepped in.