Assembly members clash at Stormont over Drumcree parade

Assembly members have clashed in Stormont over the Drumcree parade dispute.

The Parades Commission had banned this year's Portadown parade from entering the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road - a move which reflected every decision it has made since 1998.

While a member of the commission later resigned over the matter, unionist parties have said that did not go far enough and that they had lost confidence in the commission.

The matter was raised by Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) assembly member Timothy Gaston who called on the Secretary of State to remove the five remaining members of the Parades Commission.

Monday was Stormont's first chance for MLAs to put on record their views about the matter.

"Principled unionists have no respect or any confidence left in this Parades Commission and it's about time he gave each of the remaining members their marching orders, out the door with their P45s," Gaston said.

"We now face the extraordinary prospect of this discredited commission adjudicating upon the fresh Drumcree application."

Last month, a decision by the Parades Commission to impose restrictions on the Portadown parade was quashed in the High Court.

Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) assembly member Jonathan Buckley said the positions of the Parades Commission members are "untenable".

He also accused Sinn Féin of switching its position over mediation between the Orange Order and the Garvaghy Road residents.

"One minute it's no to mediation the next minute there is some form of mediation," he said.

But Sinn Féin Upper Bann MLA John O'Dowd accused unionists of "reopening old wounds".

"I remember the hurt and pain which was inflicted on the Garvaghy Road community and that scar runs deep in that community and it is generational."

O'Dowd then read out the names of people he said "paid the ultimate price" for what unionists want to revisit including Robert Hamill who was murdered in Portadown and the three Quinn brothers who were killed in an arson attack on their home.

The Portadown Orange Order has applied for another Drumcree parade which would include the Garvaghy Road, to take place on Sunday 27 September.

The Parades Commission will assess any notification of a parade and decide what restrictions, if any, to put on it.