Debate contribution: Parades Commission: Drumcree Determination

Debate contribution by Mr Justin McNulty on 28 September 2026.

MLA: Mr Justin McNulty
Party at the time: Social Democratic and Labour Party
Date: 28 September 2026
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Matter of the Day
Heading: Parades Commission: Drumcree Determination
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5761801

Text

I was humbled and proud to stand with the residents of the Garvaghy Road from Saturday through Sunday. When I arrived on the road after midnight on Saturday, I experienced the foreboding atmosphere and was struck by the sense of determined defiance in everyone's eyes. I spoke to countless residents, who stressed that they were not there for themselves but that they were there for their children. They do not want their children and their grandchildren to experience the same horrors that were part of their lives relating to the Drumcree march when they were growing up. I spoke to the Tír na nÓg ladies Gaelic football players, who came out in the middle of the night to support their parents, their aunties, their uncles and their neighbours after their gut-wrenching injury-time defeat in the county final. I applaud them. I applaud each and every person who came out on to the Garvaghy Road in such a dignified and determined manner. When a community comes together, united by a just and shared cause, it is deeply powerful. You should all stand tall; you should all stand proud. The residents and the people of the North, including large swathes of unionism, want Stormont to see sense. They want political leadership that does not allow tensions to boil over. They want their peace protected and to get on with their lives, to raise their families and to go to work and school without worrying about the divisions of the past. For the residents of the Garvaghy Road, Drumcree is not a distant memory. The people of the Garvaghy Road should not be forced to relive the fear, the trauma and the violence of the past. This is not about just 35 men walking down the street. It is a demonstration of dominance: a reminder of the past when 21 people —
— 21 people, including children, were killed. As Bríd Rodgers has stated regarding Drumcree, "Let sleeping dogs lie". Hundreds of parades occur each year without an issue, but this one should not have been permitted because of a technical blunder by the Parades Commission. It is an irresponsible choice by the Parades Commission, the Secretary of State and others who allowed that parade to go on. It can only be described as fanning the flames of division. Nobody — I say again, nobody — should be using this situation to inflame sectarian tensions. We need now only to hear messages of calm. The Secretary of State, the UK Prime Minister and the Taoiseach need to do all in their power to de-escalate the situation and protect our peace and to move all our communities, together, forward positively. Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine.
We rely on one other for shelter from the storm.

464 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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