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Once again the Parades Commission has delivered a negative
determination in respect of Portadown District's application
in respect of our Parade on Sunday 5 July at Drumcree Parish
Church. To say that Portadown District are once again disgusted
and dismayed by this decision would be a great understatement.
Portadown District cannot understand how the Parades Commission
underpins the prevarication of the Garvaghy Road Resident's
Coalition by refusing to give a positive determination given
the intransigence of the GRRC. For years we were told that
if we wished to be granted a parade then face-to-face dialogue
would be required. For almost 3 years now we have been pressing
Roger Poole (outgoing Parades Commission chairman) to instigate
face-to-face dialogue. To this date he has not been able to
deliver. Portadown District are firmly of the opinion that
Roger Poole never had any intention of seeking a resolution
to the impasse, in fact he has sat on his hands and has sought
to put Portadown District down at every available opportunity.
In an article published in the Belfast Telegraph (dated 9
June 2009), Roger Poole stated that "Portadown Orangmen
notify a parade along the Garvaghy Road every week….".
I feel that in the interests of fairness it must be pointed
out to the people of Northern Ireland, and indeed the outgoing
Chair of the Parades Commission, that Portadown District LOL
No 1 objects strongly to the wording used.
Portadown District has indeed applied for a parade every
Sunday since our parade was stopped in July 1998. It is not,
as was being implied by Roger Poole, a "parade along
the Garvaghy Road", but it is in fact an attempt to complete
our parade from Drumcree Church, which was prohibited by an
unelected and unaccountable quango - namely, The Parades Commission,
since July 1998.
On every 11/1, the official document to be completed giving
notice of intention to parade, we state that the purpose of
the parade is 'To complete return parade from morning worship
denied by Parades Commission since July 1998'. This is even
noted in the document that is sent out each and every week
by the Parades Commission when it issues its determination
"…The Commission notes the purpose of this event
is 'To complete return parade from morning worship denied
by Parades Commission since July 1998'. Portadown District
therefore feels that it is completely disingenuous of Roger
Poole to use the wording as in the article of 9 June 2009.
When he came into Northern Ireland as Chair of the Parades
Commission, the Secretary of State at the time, Rt Hon P Hain
MP, said "I have asked Roger and his new team to look
afresh at the procedures and practices of the Commission.
I am appointing this Commission with a mandate to work itself
out of a job by helping to create an environment in which
accommodations on parades can be made between the two communities
without the need for formal determinations. I am confident
that Roger's down to earth approach and willingness to engage
with people will help move parades towards a new era and that
he will be ably supported by the rest of the Commission."
This same man, in just over 4 years, has been unable, or unwilling,
to get the two sides of the parading problem in Portadown
to the mediation table. He has presided over a Commission
who have, as a result of some of their determinations, made
themselves a laughing stock - remember the elephants and the
turkeys!!
Of course, Roger Poole may not have meant his words to come
across the way that they did, but this again shows his inability
to understand the situation. However, Portadown District will
not be sorry to see the demise of the Chair of the Parades
Commission and we can only hope and pray that his successor
will have a better notion of how to obtain a solution to the
problem.
If Portadown District were asked to write an epitaph for
Roger Poole it would say that "he is an Englishman who
is returning to England probably knowing less about Northern
Ireland than when he arrived!"
Yours sincerely
Darryl Hewitt
Worshipful District Master
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