An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-16
============================================================

Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

It is fair to say that Northern Ireland has made enormous progress on parades over the past decades. We have to avoid any return to the divisions of the past. I am aware of the decision of the High Court in Northern Ireland, of the Parades Commission ruling on the Drumcree march application and of the review announced by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. It is important to recall the High Court's decision was based on procedural grounds and is not an approval for the parade to take place. I understand Portadown lodge has now notified the Parades Commission of its intention to hold a march passing through the Garvaghy Road on 27 September. I received a letter this morning from the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition. The Government is continuing to monitor this situation. We are very conscious of the concerns of the residents. I have a strong personal recollection of the very traumatic, difficult history of this issue. This is a matter we will keep under constant review.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-16