Debate contribution: Exclusion of the First Minister from Office under Section 30 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998
Debate contribution by Dr Caoimhe Archibald on .
- MLA
- Dr Caoimhe Archibald
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 12 October 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Assembly Business
- Heading
- Exclusion of the First Minister from Office under Section 30 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5786618
Read the official Assembly record
Text
A fortnight after the disastrous and inexplicable decision by the Parades Commission to permit an unwanted Orange march down the Garvaghy Road, the British Secretary of State finally did what he should have done from the start and banned it from taking place. That was after 14 days of the lives of the people of the Garvaghy Road being turned upside down — of their family life and their community life being disrupted. Over that time, however, there was growing and vocal support for that community from across Ireland and internationally, from Capitol Hill, the European Parliament, trade unions in Ireland and dozens of high-profile public figures in the arts, as well as people from an LGBTQIA+ background and, notably, 1,500 people from a Protestant/unionist background who signed an open letter calling on the British and Irish Governments to intervene. Thousands of people from all backgrounds and all parts of this island joined the community on the Garvaghy Road to show solidarity, all with a shared determination that there can be no going back and that this should not be happening. It is abundantly clear that this issue has been dragged up specifically to create instability by those who are opposed to the Good Friday Agreement and power sharing for their own narrow political agenda. They are intent on trying to drag us back and undo 28 years of peace and progress, but they have failed. What this entire episode has done is to highlight that this state, which was built on foundations of sectarianism, reinforced for decades by institutional sectarianism with the Orange Order at its heart, cannot work. The Good Friday Agreement brought an end to the conflict and provided a peaceful way forward. However, some now in political unionism and loyalism seem determined to unravel it because they do not like the direction of travel. The real question that should be posed in the aftermath of all this is not, as some have cynically tried to suggest, what it says to unionists about a future united Ireland. The question should be: what does this failed attempt at undermining our peace say to those from a nationalist and non-unionist background, right here, right now? After 28 years of peace and progress, some within loyalism and unionism are so determined to reassert their former supremacy that they sought to reopen this parade dispute with its horrifying, murderous history. It is lost on no one, from a nationalist background certainly, that Jim Allister talked yesterday in dehumanising terms of "sanitising" the Garvaghy Road. That betrays how some in political unionism still view the nationalist community as somehow lesser. By "sanitised", of course, he meant the nationalist feet off the street, like civil rights marchers in the 60s, anti-internment marchers in the 70s, those who attended the funerals of hunger strikers in the 80s and people protesting parades in the 90s. Even though two thirds of the nearly 4,000 parades that take place every year are from a Protestant, unionist or loyalist background — 2,500 marches — and only 5% of those are deemed sensitive enough to have any conditions imposed on them, that is not enough; they want Garvaghy Road too, even though the community there very clearly and expressly does not want it. What this sorry episode actually says is that some see no accommodation with their neighbours. They do not want to share power; they only want things on their terms, and they want domination. The positivity and inclusiveness of the fleadh seemed to trigger those who thrive on division, and this is where we have ended up. Let me say that the days of Orange domination and supremacy are done. Never again will those from a nationalist background, or any other background, be treated as second class. We are all equal. Our society has moved on, and people from all communities want to live in peace. They want our progress to be protected, and for their children and grandchildren to never experience what we, our parents and our grandparents did. That is why the message from the Garvaghy Road community resonated so much and so far. There is no going back; not now, not ever.
698 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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