Debate contribution: Parades Commission: Drumcree Determination
Debate contribution by Mrs Naomi Long on .
- MLA
- Mrs Naomi Long
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 28 September 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Matter of the Day
- Heading
- Parades Commission: Drumcree Determination
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5761774
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Mr Speaker, I do not intend to rise to the bait that is being laid by others in the House. You appealed to us to be responsible and to be aware of the moment that we are in. I know exactly where I was on 27 September 1995: I was getting married. My husband was working in Lurgan, and I recall with clarity and profound sadness the years of the Drumcree dispute. Like many others who lived through that period, I have found it depressing, disturbing and almost unbelievable as I have watched the latest saga unfold. I sympathise with those on the Garvaghy Road, those in Portadown and those across Northern Ireland who share that bemusement. Young people who have no recollection of the dispute have had to be told what it is about. Young police officers who were not even born when the PSNI was formed were having "SS RUC" taunts and other sectarian nonsense shouted in their faces when they are there to protect the public on both sides of the dispute. That is not acceptable. The year 1998 marked the Good Friday Agreement, as well as the ending of the Drumcree dispute. That was supposed to be a new start for this community and an opportunity to build a better future for all of us and ensure that the next generation would not have to relive those traumas. That expectation was based on a shared understanding of the rule of law and that it applied equally to everyone. There is no other foundation on which a society can exist. It was based on a commitment to build peace and find reconciliation. From the moment that this issue re-emerged, it has felt like Pandora's box has been opened, unleashing an entirely predictable, destructive and wholly avoidable sequence of events in which there will be no winners, only losers. In a conversation with the Secretary of State last night, however, I was reminded that, when Pandora's box was finally closed, all that remained was hope. That is the challenge for the Chamber today: how do we offer hope for those who feel utter despair? Where is the leadership to collectively navigate through this? Are we willing to do the hard yards of reconciliation? If we are not, we are condemning future generations to relive the worst parts of our past, and we offer them nothing. I make a direct appeal to the Orange Order, as fellow Christians, to put reconciliation first. You have established your rights, but, for the greater good of society, you do not need to exercise them. Take the moral high ground, like the Christian men you are —
— and allow this to come to a conclusion.
453 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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