Fourteen members of US Congress say failing to act decisively risks ‘reopening one of the most painful chapters in North’s history’
By Keith Duggan, Irish Times
Leading US politicians have written to Northern Ireland Secretary of State Chris Bryant asking the UK government to cancel the Orange Order parade on the Garvaghy Road.
Fourteen members of the US Congress, all members of the influential Friends of Ireland Caucus on Capitol Hill, told Bryant that failing to take decisive action risked “reopening one of the most painful chapters in Northern Ireland’s history”.
They said it would also undermine “nearly three decades of peace, stability and reconciliation made possible by the Good Friday Agreement”.
The intervention comes following the delay of a Belfast High Court hearing until Monday on the contentious parade that the Protestant Orange Order wants to proceed down the Garvaghy Road, the Catholic estate in Portadown, Co Armagh.
Bryant met Garvaghy Road residents on Thursday evening in an attempt to break a deadlock on the proposed march, which Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) chief constable Jon Boutcher said “could be catastrophic” for Northern Ireland.
The bipartisan Congressional Friends of Ireland Caucus, led by Massachusetts Democrat Richard Neal and Pennsylvanian Republican representative Mike Kelly, urged the UK government to recognise that an entire generation of people in Northern Ireland “has grown without a single memory of the Troubles”.
“It was that same 28-year period that saw the end of the controversial Orange Order marches on Garvaghy Road in a majority-Catholic area of Portadown,” the letter says.
“During the Troubles, these parades became a symbol of the sectarian tensions, public disorder and violence that once threatened Northern Ireland’s peace. The Parades Commission has prevented the proposed march down Garvaghy Road year after year, and for good reason.
“This march harkens back to decades of sectarian rule and the divisions that defined one of the darkest periods in Ireland’s history,” the members of Congress said.
“For those who have dedicated their lives to achieving peace and stability, allowing this march to proceed would reopen wounds that have yet to fully heal. For the next generation, who want nothing more than peace, prosperity, and a shared future, this would represent a marked step backward.”
The letter was cosigned by prominent politicians including Pennsylvania congressman Brendan Boyle, Texas representative Lloyd Doggett and Michigan congresswoman Debbie Dingel.
Neal has been an influential voice for Irish unity since he was first elected to US Congress in 1988 and was a pivotal figure supporting the Northern Ireland peace process that led to the Belfast Agreement, the 1998 peace deal signed on Good Friday that year.
“This is a consequential moment on the island of Ireland, which is why we respectfully urge you to put a stop to this march,” the letter continued.
“Failing to intervene and allowing this contentious parade to move forward would risk undermining the progress that has been painstakingly built over the past three decades.
“As a guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement, the United States has a vested interest in seeing the principles embodied in the accord upheld, ensuring the gains we have achieved can be enjoyed for generations to come.”
