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Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald during Leaders' Questions. Oireachtas TV
Leaders' Questions
McDonald urges Martin to apply 'all necessary pressure' on NI Secretary to end Drumcree dispute
The Sinn Féin leader accused Chris Bryant of leaving people in “limbo” and called on him to “use his powers” to prevent the parade from taking place.
SINN FÉIN LEADER Mary Lou McDonald has told Taoiseach Micheál Martin that he has a responsibility to “apply all necessary pressure” on the British government in relation to resolving the Drumcree parade dispute.
It comes 11 days after the Parades Commission granted the Orange Order permission to march down the predominantly nationalist Garvaghy Road for the first time in 28 years, resulting in the residents blocking the road and the matter going to court.
Earlier this week, the residents challenged a decision of a High Court judge to refuse leave to apply for a judicial review of the commission’s decision to permit the parade.
Appeal court judges in Belfast have reserved their judgment in the legal challenge until a later date.
Speaking during Leaders’ Questions today, Mary Lou McDonald accused the Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Bryant of allowing the issue “to fester”.
“He should have acted on day one and he should act now,” she said.
She further accused Bryant of leaving people in “limbo” after he “walked away” when the proposal put forward in last week’s talks to resolve the dispute was rejected.
The British Secretary of State now updates his Twitter account more regularly than the residents, whom he hasn’t spoken to since last Thursday, and it is the residents who live with the consequences.
She said that after 11 days, “the case for direct intervention is now unanswerable”.
“A small minority seeks to drag everyone backwards and undo 28 years of progress. They’re damaging community relations, undermining trust, threatening hard-won peace and they cannot dictate the future.”
She repeated her calls for Bryant to “use his powers” to prevent the parade from taking place, and asked Martin when he last spoke to him and what actions he would take “to secure the British action that is needed to bring this intolerable situation to an end”.
‘Mediated resolution needed’
Martin said his view was that the matter needed to be resolved “through the wider lens of community relations”.
“It’s not a simple matter of making a declaration and it all goes away,” he said, adding that it requires “a lot of sensitivity from all of us in leadership positions”.
The Fianna Fáil leader said he spoke to British prime minister Andy Burnham about the matter two days ago.
“I still believe that we need a mediated resolution of this and that’s the wider lens through which I am looking at this,” he added.
“I don’t understand why you are just having a go at the Northern Ireland Secretary of State in the way you have. I think if we wish to persuade people, we have got to try to work to persuade them.
“The talks that have happened could result in an outcome if we maintain dialogue and we will see what happens.”
‘Dangerous and lingering limbo’
In response, McDonald said she was focusing her remarks on Bryant “for the simple reason that he is the person who can intervene now, to call an end to this march and to allow the space for the very considerable repair work that will have to be done on Garvaghy Road, across Portadown and further afield.
“We are facing into a very, very dangerous limbo and stalemate and I think there is a responsibility on you to apply all necessary pressure on Prime Minister Burnham and the Secretary of State to intervene now and to put a stop to what is a dangerous and now lingering limbo situation.”
Martin told McDonald that she also has a responsibility, adding: “I think some of your actions over the last week, in my view, were not ones that would contribute to a satisfactory resolution of the issues – not just for now, but into the future.
I’m looking round the corner, I’m looking ahead and I’m not so sure you are. I think you are looking to the here and now for your own electoral reasons. I hate to say that, but that’s the conclusion I have come to.
He concluded by saying that some of the language McDonald had used has consequences “which could impede a resolution” that could mean no parades down Garvaghy Road.
Earlier today, Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee said the only solution to the dispute is where the Orange Order and the residents of the Garvaghy Road come to an agreement.
Speaking in Dublin, she said that “irrespective” of the Court of Appeal judgment, both sides should come to an agreement.
She also said she speaks to Bryant on a daily basis.
“The Irish government has a role in trying to bring people together and in trying to ensure that if there is a solution and an agreement between both the residents and indeed the Orange Order, that we are there to support that,” she added.
“But the discussions themselves, led by the Secretary of State, have to take place. Where I see my role and this Government’s role is making sure that we can support whatever agreement is put in place.”
She said the Irish government is engaging with political parties in Northern Ireland to ensure it does not impact on the Executive.
McEntee said there is a lot of focus on the Court of Appeal case.
“Irrespective of that, I would say, and it’s not to dismiss what the outcome is, irrespective, I believe the only way that there will be a solution is where the residents and the Orange Order come to an agreement,” McEntee added.
History has shown us, anything in Northern Ireland, that’s the only way that you find a resolution, where both sides can potentially move forward.
“It’s a challenging environment, it’s difficult, but there’s a lot of people who have, I suppose, really put a huge amount of work into this over the last week or so, and I’m confident that we will be able to find a solution.”
With reporting from Press Association
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