The Parades Commission has strongly criticised Portadown Orangemen for their "unacceptable strategy" and disregard for the rules set down by it last year in relation to the Portadown parade. The flexible approach shown by them in recent weeks had come too late, it said.
In the 14-page statement explaining its decision to prohibit the Portadown District Loyal Orange Lodge No 1 parade from entering the Garvaghy Road this Sunday, it said last year's decision had provided an opportunity to move forward and engage with local residents.
The Orange Order had not used this opportunity in a positive way, the statement said. Instead it had refused to accept the commission's legally binding decision and sought to challenge it through a strategy of weekly applications to complete the route originally notified for last July.
While asserting its fundamental right to walk the "queen's highway", it had overlooked judgments made in the High Court and the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland that there was no absolute right to march. In a strongly worded statement, the commission spoke of the perceived link between the convergence of thousands of Orangemen at Portadown last year and the civil unrest which erupted throughout Northern Ireland, including the arson attack on a home during which the three young Quinn brothers died.
"While the Orange Order disowned any responsibility for this crime, others pointed to the influence of the atmosphere of protest fostered at the standoff at Drumcree as an excuse to carry out such criminal acts," it said.
The commission welcomed the positive proposals made by the Orange Order in recent discussions with Garvaghy Road residents but said these attempts at accommodation were not enough.
"With the absence of local accommodation and with the late hour at which these discussions have been brokered, the commission considers that it does not have evidence that sufficient steps have been taken to demonstrate a substantive and sustained process of engagement on the part of Portadown District LOL No 1 and the Garvaghy Road residents," it said.
It called on the Portadown Orangemen to implement their proposals - to call off protest activity and continue discussions with residents - despite the parades commission's decision.
The commission also criticised the Orange Order for not operating a moratorium or "even a significant reduction" in the number of parades held since July 1998. The commission had imposed conditions on 64 parades in Portadown since that time, it said.
Nobody should be surprised by the decision as the commission had tried time and time again to alert the Orange Order to the unacceptable nature of the strategy it had pursued in Portadown.
The commission had also repeatedly drawn parade organisers' attention to the code of conduct, quoting from it in many of its statements and making compliance a condition of the parade.
"Despite these references to our code of conduct, offensive language and gestures continue to be used, and music perceived to be sectarian is played outside church and other sensitive areas," it said.