Debate contribution: Parades Commission: Drumcree Determination
Debate contribution by Mr Jon Burrows on .
- MLA
- Mr Jon Burrows
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 28 September 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Matter of the Day
- Heading
- Parades Commission: Drumcree Determination
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5761706
Read the official Assembly record
Text
We all have a duty to work for a better future for young people — I see pupils from my old school in the Public Gallery — and find a way through this issue, and that should weigh heavily on all of us today. However, it has to be founded on the rule of law, and two things can be true at once: we must respect the rule of law, and we can find a resolution that is peaceful and permanent. I need to address the rule of law issue with Sinn Féin. It has never committed entirely to signing up to the rule of law. We saw it with policing, and now we see it with parades. We saw it during COVID with Bobby Storey's funeral, and we saw it on the Ormeau Road when Sinn Féin unlawfully petitioned the Chief Constable to get a man released and threatened to bring this place down unless an innocent officer was suspended. In a premeditated way, it went on to the streets and linked arms, and the First Minister was involved in encouraging people to engage in protest. The Finance Minister was present at an un-notified protest. The Economy Minister was present at an un-notified protest. Members of the Policing Board, who are supposed to hold the police to account in upholding the law, were breaking the law by not only having an un-notified protest but blocking the road. Sinn Féin can take its view on the determination, but it could have said, "We are going to have a lawful protest. We are going to submit the form". The Orange Order and every other organisation, even the Boys’ Brigade, is asked to submit the form. We ask every organisation in the country to submit the form if they want to walk down our streets, but Sinn Féin could not submit that application. Sinn Féin could have asked people to stand on either side of the road and not block it, but it chose to block the road. The same people criticised people from a different community when they blocked the roads in 2013. They called for the police to take tough action and criticised them for not taking action initially. It is hypocrisy, and it is lawbreaking. You are eating through the legitimacy of this place like acid because of your conduct. You sit and smirk. If one of my MLAs had been involved in an un-notified protest, I would have taken the whip off them this morning, because we have to obey the law of the country
You can mock and deflect all you want, but here is the reality: we need to find a resolution. I am glad that the Secretary of State is meeting the Orange Order. It has obeyed the law, and I congratulate it for that. We need to find a way to move on and find an off-ramp so that we can look after the people of this country. That is what we are sent in here to do, and they need and rely on us. I also give the police my support. It is a tough job that they have to do, and it is sometimes made worse by people in this place. I support the PSNI, and I condemn Sinn Féin's lawlessness unconditionally.
550 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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