The resurrection of the Garvaghy Road dispute

Sir, – Is it entirely coincidental that, after almost three decades, Drumcree has returned to the political agenda, with a new parade application planned for Ulster Day, as an Assembly election approaches and DUP support falls in recent polling? ('Orange Order applies to march down Garvaghy Road in Portadown', Ireland, September 3rd.) The timing is striking. Former DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson awaits sentencing, DUP MP Jim Shannon contests an assault charge, while DUP MPs Gregory Campbell and Sammy Wilson face separate expenses and parliamentary standards investigations. Against that backdrop, the resurrection of one of unionism's most emotive disputes has all the appearance of dog-whistle distraction politics. It is disappointing to see ordinary unionists being marched once again to the top of the hill by their political representatives. – Yours, etc, GRAHAM MURPHY, Derry. Sir, – Attempts to have the Orange Order once again marching on Garvaghy Road must be rejected by the Parades Commission. The history of the Orange Order has been a shameful litany of intimidation and supremacy. The order provided religious camouflage for those members who continue to maintain a system of privilege and power and defines itself more by a hatred of Catholics than a love of Christ. These men of no popery are sustained by sectarianism and are shrouded in secrecy. All the soft focus media airbrushing or high-powered spin doctoring cannot disguise the true nature of this organisation or its raison d'être. The Orange Order has fought a 200-year rearguard action against democracy in Ireland by opposing every progressive reform, from the repeal of the anti-Catholic and anti-dissenter penal laws to the Patten Report on the RUC. Any proposal that they perceived might weaken unionist hegemonic domination in Ireland was vigorously opposed, often with threats of violence. – Yours, etc, TOM COOPER, Templeogue, Dublin. Sir, – It is scarcely believable that 28 years after the dreadful series of events surrounding the Orange Order march at Drumcree that the same organisation is now proposing to that it be allowed to march, once again, on the Garvaghy Road in Portadown. One would have thought that after this remove the organisation would have moved on and learned from its associated orders that engagement with, and respect for, those directly affected by marches is the only way to proceed. It was particularly disheartening to see Jim Allister, the MP for North Antrim, at the head table advocating for this march, bearing in mind that the three Quinn children who died in an arson attack that has been linked to the dispute lived in his constituency. – Yours, etc, BRENDAN MCMAHON, Naas, Co Kildare. Sir, – You report that the Orange Order has applied to march along the Garvaghy Road in Portadown on Sunday, September 27th. The report states that the order said it would hold a 'dignified and non-triumphalist' procession without bands. Surely, this is a tacit admission that the order's other processions are inherently 'undignified and triumphalist'. – Yours, etc, DONAL HUTTON, Carrigaline, Co Cork.