Member's statement: Garvaghy Road: Unionist Support
Member's statement by Miss Deirdre Hargey on .
- MLA
- Miss Deirdre Hargey
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 29 September 2026
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Garvaghy Road: Unionist Support
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5761196
Read the official Assembly record
Text
These are the words not of Irish republicans or nationalists but of people from a unionist background:
"My grandfather was an Orangeman from Portadown. I stand with the protesters".
"I'm a Protestant, but this has nothing to do with faith. It's a deliberate attempt to cause trouble".
"Every decent, respectable Protestant supports the good people of the Garvaghy Road. We want to live in peace with our Catholic neighbours".
"I'm a unionist and am from a unionist background, yet I can't fathom why we would want to go back to those days".
I could go on and on. The message is clear: there is no going back. After almost 30 years, they, like many others, are asking, "Why are these wounds being ripped open again?". I have a message for those in the unionist community who can see through the reckless politics of the DUP and political unionism: be a voice of reason; be a voice of common sense; and continue to be that voice and stand with the people of the Garvaghy Road and for their right to live free from sectarianism and discrimination. I saw people from a unionist and Protestant background engaging with residents of the Garvaghy Road on Sunday and standing in solidarity with them in their plight — their time of worry, stress and re-traumatisation. We cannot allow the reckless attempts by the DUP to exploit that horrific situation and those residents' suffering, to undermine our peace and to drag us backwards to succeed. Every one of us has a responsibility to face that down. We have come too far; we are not going back.
270 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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