- Orange Order members hold ‘constructive’ meeting with NI Secretary Bryant
- Garvaghy residents meet Bryant, seeking international mediator in dispute
- Orange Order maintains presence at Drumcree church
- Large crowd gathers again on Garvaghy Road
- DUP leader to refer politicians who attended protests to Standards Commissioners
- PSNI says use of force against protesters ‘would have been disproportionate’
Disagreement in Stormont over O’Neill attendance
Sinn Féin whip Sinéad Ennis has said that Michelle O’Neill was not representing the Executive Office in attending the Garvaghy Road protest and was instead “clearly there” as part of her position as vice president of the party.Assembly Speaker Edwin Poots said that these representations made by Ms Ennis could have been made by Ms O’Neill, pictured right, First Minister for Northern Ireland Michelle O’Neill, directly.
“If there is a discourtesy to this House, it has come from the deputy First Minister, who has withheld or blocked that information from coming to you, Mr Speaker,” Ms Ennis said.
Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly characterised the comments from Ms Ennis as “absolutely outrageous” and “misinformation”.
She said: “Can I make absolutely clear that, despite the Deputy First Minister’s office chasing the First Minister’s office for an answer, I made it absolutely clear that the First Minister should not be running away from scrutiny, but should come to this house and answer for the actions that she wilfully took.
“That, despite that, we only received very late notice of her refusal to go.”
Crowds continue to gather at the side of the Garvaghy Road in Portadown this afternoon.
First Minister for Northern Ireland Michelle O’Neill has been accused of “gross discourtesy” and “contempt” of the Northern Ireland Assembly by its Speaker.Edwin Poots said she “needs to come and answer to the community of Northern Ireland” after she did not show up to the Assembly to answer an urgent oral question on the Drumcree parading dispute.
Addressing the Assembly, Mr Poots said: “It is unprecedented – unprecedented – for a minister not to come to this house whenever the Speaker’s Office has made that call.
“You may not like the call that the Speaker’s Office made, but it is gross discourtesy to everyone in the House that you choose not to do it.”
Mr Poots said he expected Ms O’Neill to be in attendance tomorrow.
“It may well be that all ministers are actually called up tomorrow if I choose to do so, but you know I am not in any way minded to allow people to show contempt for the House, and there are articles on calling people and rules, and I might also indicate that I went through the code of conduct and the ministerial pledge of office, and it’s quite clear to me that within the ministerial pledge of office, that the minister should be in attendance whenever the speaker’s office requests it.”
DUP will initiate a ‘range of actions’ – RobinsonThe DUP has insisted it cannot be business as usual at Stormont as the party vowed to take action against Sinn Féin after senior members, including the First Minister, participated in a protest against an Orange Order parade.
DUP leader Gavin Robinson, left, had been facing calls from unionist rivals to collapse the powersharing institutions over the furore around the Drumcree parade but he opted for a different approach, making clear he did not intend to be “reckless”.
However, Mr Robinson said his party would pursue a “pathway” and initiate a “range of actions”.
He said that would include complaints to the Assembly’s Commissioner for Standards, calls for censure and motions of no confidence.
He said there was also a “clear requirement” for the PSNI to “prosecute anyone who has broken the law”.
Sinn Féin First Minister Michelle O’Neill defended her participation in the protest, telling the Assembly she was “proud” to be involved.
Orange Order says ‘major political questions to be asked’
The Grand Orange Order Lodge Ireland has said there are “major political questions to be asked” about the “illegal actions and subsequent repercussions” of a number of elected representives.
In a statement, it said: “Disappointingly, nationalism and republicanism, including many individuals who hold key political offices, decided that the law is only to be adhered to and enforced when it is supporting their views.
“There are now major political questions to be asked about the illegal actions and subsequent repercussions of a number of elected representives. There is no shortage of evidence of illegality, and we therefore anticipate a swift response which holds lawbreakers to account for their actions.”
The Orange Order said that whilst they acknowledge the difficult situation faced by police, who were backed up by a significant force of officers from Police Scotland, it was their duty is to uphold the law.
“If the safety of our 35 Brethren cannot be guaranteed, then PSNI need to make that clear and admit that they are unable to police the potential actions of those taking part in the illegal protest.
“Such a failure has echoes of the high-profile paramilitary funeral during Covid and the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland will do little to dispel the view that there are different policing approaches and decisions.”
Some of those gathered on the Garvaghy Road in Portadown have started playing music as the demonstration continues.
Garvaghy residents seeking ‘international mediator’ in Drumcree dispute
Garvaghy Road residents’ representative Breandán Mac Cionnaith has said the British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland was very interested in getting a mediation process up and running.
“We told him we have absolutely no problems with mediation.”
He said they have not put conditions on the mediation and also explained to Chris Bryant “why it should be an international mediator”.
He said his message to the Orange Order today is: “Why would you want to walk through an area which you know would cause great offence, great anger, great annoyance to many people, when you have an alternative route that is acceptable to everyone but you refuse to accept yourselves.”
Mr Mac Cionnaith said it was only an exploratory meeting today.
“We’re up for it. If the mediation comes along and the right mediator is there, a mediator that has experience of looking at conflicts that have been caused similar to our own in Ireland, as a result of occupation.”
He said they were still waiting on confirmation of a meeting with the PSNI Chief Constable today.
Mr Mac Cionnaith said that the community has “no confidence in the Orange Order, no faith in the Orange Order”.
“So no matter what the Orange Order says or does at the present time, it’s doubtful if anyone in our community would actually believe them.”
Use of force to remove protesters ‘would have been disproportionate’, says PSNI
The PSNI has said that it assessed over the weekend that removing protesters from Garvaghy Road using force would have been disproportionate.
Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson said that a significant public safety operation remains in place on the Garvaghy Road today.
He said that the PSNI was unable to allow the parade to proceed yesterday “because of an unlawful and unnotified protest”.
“Repeated attempts to get people to move off the road were unsuccessful.
“Our assessment was that to remove, at one stage, an estimated 1,000 people from the Garvaghy Road, including women, children and older people would have required such a significant use of force that public safety would have been significantly jeopardised, people seriously hurt and disorder inevitable. In all of those circumstances use of police force would have been disproportionate,” he said.
Mr Henderson added that a dedicated inquiry team is reviewing evidence and that anyone who has broken the law will be investigated.
