Garvaghy residents reject one-item agenda
By Pádraig MacDabhaid
The Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition have put together a paper on the views of nationalists in the Garvaghy Road area regarding sectarian marches.
According to Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition spokesman Breandán MacCionnaith, over the past week, members of the coalition have been holding meetings with local residents in order to facilitate the dual role of briefing the people and finding out what they thought was the best way to proceed.
``We drew up a paper highlighting the concerns and views of nationalists living in the area,'' he explained. ``Then, on Tuesday 12 October, we had a meeting with British security minister Adam Ingram and the legal and political representatives of the Orange Order. We felt that Adam Ingram was trying to entrap us in what would merely be a cosmetic exercise which was based around the Orange Order's one item agenda - to march down the Garvaghy Road - so we called for an adjournment.''
At the adjournment, the residents met Ingram alone and told him that they were not prepared to engage in a one item agenda and that it was their belief that if the views of nationalists were not taken on board, then the negotiations would collapse.
``We told Adam Ingram that we want a proper process created; one which will involve an independent facilitator and a process underpinned with the basic rights and principles as agreed in the Good Friday Agreement and human rights charters. These principles must be applied on the streets of Portadown. The British government must take a step back and look at what is going on or this process will collapse,'' MacCionnaith said.
After the meeting, Garvaghy residents were hopeful that the British government would begin to take steps to set up a proper talks structure which would address the concerns of local residents.
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