Blair offers no end to Garvaghy siege
By Fern Lane
For those of you who thought that the Portadown Orangemen could
hardly dig themselves any further into their trenches, think again.
On Monday 18 January the County Armagh Grand Master, Denis Watson,
wrote to Tony Blair refusing Security Minister Adam Ingram's
invitation to proximity talks at the weekend on the grounds that ``for
the Brethren, these talks have been demoralising and demotivating and
they have lost confidence in the merit of another round''.
In his curiously-worded letter Watson told Mr Blair that ``we believe
professional help is now required and we confirm that we will not
participate in further talks until a clearly defined structure is
produced to fit the mood at this time.''
One interpretation of the letter is that the Order will refuse to
take part in talks of any description unless they are chaired by
someone the Order believes is willing to try and overturn the Parades
Commission decision.
At the same time as the letter was received in Downing Street a
delegation from the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition, including
Breandan MacCionnaith and the Coalition's lawyer, Rosemary Nelson,
was meeting with Tony Blair - partly in order to try and agree on
another round of proximity talks. It was only when the delegation
emerged from the meeting an hour later that they were informed by
journalists of the Orange Order's letter.
As the talks went on, a demonstration organised by the London
Re-route Sectarian Marches Campaign was held opposite Downing Street
in support of the Garvaghy Road residents.
Speaking afterwards, Breandan MacCionnaith said that in the light of
all that had gone before, particularly 1995 when a gesture by the
residents allowing the Orangemen to march was rewarded by a display
of gloating triumphalism, ``our committee does not see how it could
agree to a march now, or how we could ever trust the Orange Order
again''.
Although Blair assured the delegation that the original Parades
Commission decision would be upheld - something from which the
Coalition was able to ``take some heart'' - and both sides described
the meeting as ``constructive'' no concrete progress was made with
regard to the lifting of the siege of Portadown. Indeed, Blair seemed
at a loss to know what steps to take next, asking the delegation what
their own ``short-term solution'' would be.
Coalition members also pointed out to the Prime Minister that the
ongoing Orange intimidation would not be tolerated if it were
directed against a minority community anywhere else under British
jurisdiction. Breandan MacCionnaith likened the situation in
Portadown to that in Misissippi during the 1960s and Rosemary Nelson
commented that despite the assurances given, ``I find it hard to
reconcile the claim that the rule of law prevails with the nightly
illegal activity in Portadown and the total absence of arrests''.
At a public meeting held on Monday evening in Camden Irish Centre
Breandan MacCionnaith criticised David Trimble's call for the Parades
Commission to be disbanded saying, ``Like Craig and Carson before him,
Trimble is first and foremost an Orangeman. Drumcree got him into the
position he holds today.''
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