Member's statement: Drumcree Dispute
Member's statement by Mr Eóin Tennyson on .
- MLA
- Mr Eóin Tennyson
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 5 October 2026
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Drumcree Dispute
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5773926
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Alliance opposed reopening the wounds of the Drumcree dispute and warned the Parades Commission that doing so would resurrect pain and hurt from 28 years ago and rupture community relations. We spoke to residents in the Drumcree Community Centre over the past week and saw the trauma in people's eyes. It is clear that there has been an impact on community relations from the blatant sectarianism that has been broadcast over social media in recent days. We have called on everyone to express their views lawfully and peacefully whilst recognising that the courts cannot adjudicate on the basis of reconciliation. We each have agency and can choose to put reconciliation first. The Orange Order has established a legal right, but it is not a legal obligation. Even at this late stage, Portadown district can, and should, put the greater good of our entire community first and choose not to proceed. I acknowledge that, for many people who live in the area, the legal process and their sense of justice feel deeply misaligned, but only dialogue and mediation can bridge that gap and address that divide. This is not simply an orange and green issue; people from across our community have expressed sympathy with the residents of the Garvaghy Road for the position in which they have found themselves, including through an open letter from a range of people with a Protestant background. The answer to a deliberate strategy of division and provocation cannot, however, be further polarisation, sectarianism or triumphalism. The taunting of victims in our society is always wrong and must be condemned. I ask those who have sought to exploit the situation and have engaged in such behaviour to reflect on the fact that they are undermining the position of those very residents. Residents must be allowed to return to some semblance of normality. Our priority should be to get the dispute off the streets and back into a political process that is focused on de-escalation, resolution and healing the deep wounds that have been opened in our community. Every day that the stand-off continues causes further damage to people in Northern Ireland. It simply must now be brought to an end.
364 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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