'I don't think one resignation cuts it' – says DUP leader over Drumcree

The leader of the DUP has said one Parades Commission resignation “does not cut it” after one of the commissioners resigned over the handling of its ruling on the Orange Order’s Drumcree parade.

The commission has until the end of the day to write to Secretary of State Sir Chris Bryant, to ensure him that their decision making processes are fair.

The commission has been asked to come up with a credible plan to enhance public confidence across all communities after a court case highlighted mistakes over the ruling on the annual parade.

Gavin Robinson said the matter was “far from resolved” and that Sir Chris has a responsibility to look at whether he has confidence in the parade commissioners.

One member of the Commission, Billy Gamble, who had faced the most public criticism over private comments he is alleged to have made about the parade determination, resigned on Thursday.

On Thursday the chair of the commission, Prof Evelyn Collins, said she would not resign but the commission would work hard to regain the trust of all sections of the community.

The DUP leader said he will “will await with interest to see how it is these parade commissioners believe they are going to restore confidence”.

“They have shattered it, they are the ones that have failed to abide by their statutory obligations,” he told BBC Radio Ulster’s Good Morning Ulster on Friday.

“The secretary of state still has a responsibility to look at whether he has confidence, not whether the Parades Commission has confidence with me or the unionist community, but whether he has confidence that these individuals he is paying for have the ability to do their job and there are huge question marks around that,” Robinson said.

He said there needs to be a review of the legislation governing the Parades Commission.

Although the commission has been given a deadline of Friday evening to present the Secretary of State with a plan to rebuild public confidence, it may be next week before Sir Chris Bryant decides whether he is satisfied it will work.

At this stage, he is not expected to make an immediate decision.

The Orange Order has called for the resignation of the chair and commissioners.

“There is no confidence in anyone who has overseen this,” the Portadown District said on Friday.

Portadown District also wants a “formal, external and independent review, ideally led by a retired Judge, into the Commission’s conduct in this case and more generally and we look to the Secretary of State to deliver this”.

“Put simply it’s one down, more to go,” the statement said.

Portadown District said it is “ready and willing to engage in mediation- either directly or through representatives we authorise- without any pre-conditions”.

A woman, known only as Mary, who has lived on the Garvaghy Road since she was a child, told The Nolan Show that the recent days have “brought back up old memories” for her where a “sense of fear and tension and a definite air of unease” was being created.

Mary is not a member of the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition and said she cannot speak for them.

“Some of these politicians could be using their time a lot more efficiently,” Mary said.

She said the people in the Garvaghy Road area, whether they are Protestant or Catholic, are more interested in waiting list times and A&E times.

“They’re more interested that their autistic child can’t get an educational place to suit them within this area,” she said.

“No one is interested in a march down the Garvaghy Road, on either side. People under 35 don’t even remember marches coming down the Garvaghy Road, they can’t relate to this at all,” Mary added.

She said that “you can’t mediate with someone who asks you to go into a meeting with preconditions”.

A former RUC officer, who gave his name as Joe, described policing the standoff at Drumcree as “horrendous”.

He told BBC Radio Ulster’s The Nolan Show that, as a part of a mobile support unit, there was “a lot of stress… very prolonged and would wear you down”.

“It was difficult. There were occasions you were there for a week, maybe sleeping in the fields, and then maybe getting off to the base for a period of time then back on,” he said.

Sinn Féin MP John Finucane told BBC Radio Ulster’s Good Morning Ulster programme the recent events have been “hugely damaging the community relations”.

“The reality is that a Parades Commission will ultimately be deciding whether the Orange Order walk down the road, whether there is a future parade – the people of the Garvaghy Road have watched on in horror as this has unfolded this week,” he said.

“In a positive light, the people that I’ve spoken to this week, the people who live in that community who know it best, have spoken about a complete transformation of community relations post late 1990s,” Finucane said.

“People have seen the outworkings of a peace process. They have seen the outworkings of proper community relations, building infrastructure, building relationships. All of that takes time,” he said.

However Finucane added that this can be “undone very quickly whenever there is a momentum and an appetite to reopen and pull and push and poke at some very, very difficult and deep wounds”.

Speaking on Thursday before Gamble’s resignation Prof Evelyn Collins said the commission accepted criticisms that have been made.

However, she said rather than resign they were “very committed to fulfilling our responsibilities under the legislation, to completing our terms of office and to addressing and fixing the problems that have been identified”.

Collins, had said Gamble’s private comments were “out of line” but had no bearing on the decision-making process

On Wednesday a Northern Ireland Office (NIO) spokesperson said Sir Chris expressed “serious concern over the issues highlighted” in the judgement during the meeting.

The NIO added that Sir Chris told the chair that “public confidence in the Commission has been damaged and needs to be restored”.

He’s asked for written assurances that the commission’s decision-making processes are “fair and robust”, that they act “independently and impartially” and that they have a plan to “enhance public confidence”.

He has asked for a response “by close of play on Friday”.

On Tuesday, the High Court quashed a decision to impose restrictions on the annual parade at Drumcree outside Portadown.

The Parades Commission had banned this year’s parade from the Garvaghy Road – a move which reflected every decision it has made since 1998.

Breandan Mac Cionnaith of the Garvaghy Road Residents’ Coalition has said the Orange Order parade “finished” in 1998 and it “will not be repeated”.

The current commission was appointed from January 2024 on a three-year term.

Prof Collins is a former chair of the Equality Commission.

The others are Derek Wilson, a former banker, Billy Gamble, a former senior civil servant (who has since resigned), Nicola Rountree, a barrister, Rachel Quigley, a solicitor and Pauline Leeson, a social worker.

According to the last annual report, the chair is paid between £50,000 and £55,000 while the other commissioners earn between £20,000 and £25,000.

The chair is expected to devote one to two days per week to the work of the commission.

Commissioners are expected to devote approximately one day per week to commission business over the course of a year, with a proportionately greater commitment required April to August.

The commission only needs three members to make a decision.

Gamble’s resignation reduced the panel to five but it is still able to function, and could technically continue to operate if there were two more resignations.

In accordance with the Public Processions (Northern Ireland) Act 1998, the quorum for a meeting of the commission is three.

In 1998, the Parades Commission ruled that the Orange Order should not march down Portadown’s Garvaghy Road on the end leg of its annual march from Drumcree Church.

It was a move that sparked some of the most serious public disorder in Northern Ireland’s history and led to a decades-long parading dispute.

Stand-offs continued in subsequent years as members of the Order walked to police barricades in protest at the restrictions. Protests were also held by residents living along the Garvaghy Road.

The High Court was told on Tuesday that the commission conceded the case last week and requested the court quash its determination before a full hearing.

The commission conceded a procedural error in how it dealt with the annual application for permission to walk along the Garvaghy Road.

Not all six members of the public authority had signed off on the final determination before it was issued last month.

Lawyers representing a local Orangeman claimed the commission’s latest decision unlawfully breached his rights to freedom of belief, expression and peaceful assembly under the European Convention on Human Rights.

Lawyers for the applicant also argued that Garvaghy Road residents had refused talks with the Orange Order and the commission breached legislation by making it “a pre-requisite to a parade”.