Member's statement: Garvaghy Road Community
Member's statement by Mrs Sinéad Ennis on .
- MLA
- Mrs Sinéad Ennis
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 29 September 2026
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Garvaghy Road Community
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5761252
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Over the past number of days and weeks, a lot has been said about the Garvaghy Road community and the people who live there. It has been said by those whose strategy is to dehumanise and demonise that community, so that they have free rein to terrorise and re-traumatise that community. On that note, I pay tribute —
I will be heard today, whether you like it or not. On that note, I pay tribute to Chris Nelson, who bravely retold the story of his trauma after his mother was blown up by loyalist terrorists for representing the Garvaghy Road community. I was 15 in 1998. I was on the Garvaghy Road in 1998, and I did not think that we would see a repeat of that situation when I was in my early 40s. It is shameful that unionism has capitulated to Jamie Bryson and extremists like him.
Over the past number of days and weeks, the Garvaghy Road residents have once again been placed in a circumstance that they did not ask for. However, rather than respond with hatred — unlike the small band of loyalists looming not far from the Garvaghy Road — over the weekend, I saw a dignified, peaceful community that just wants to be left alone. For the avoidance of doubt, this is not a Sinn Féin issue or a republican issue; the wound that is Garvaghy Road runs deep in the consciousness of people across Ireland. The people of the Garvaghy Road opened their homes this weekend to those who wanted to show solidarity with them. They fed and clothed those people. The people of the Garvaghy Road were genuinely delighted to have the support of people from across Ireland. The Garvaghy Road community is a proud and dignified community that just wants to live in peace, We will continue to show our support for its right to do so. I encourage all people across Ireland who have stood in solidarity with the Garvaghy Road community to continue to do so. Continue to talk about Garvaghy, and continue to show your solidarity.
349 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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