Mags Gargan
A leading peace campaigner has said politicians in the North could learn a lesson from the local communities, after last week’s Twelfth of July parades season was hailed by the PSNI as the most peaceful in years.
While there was a heavy police presence in the area, all the Belfast bands abided by a Parades Commission determination to play only a single drum beat while passing St Patrick’s Church in Donegall Street on July 12.
Community
For the first time in almost two decades, the Orange Order parade passed the Ardoyne flashpoint in north Belfast without protests and agreed not to hold its return evening procession in what local representatives said was a massive step forward for community relations.
“You can’t create artificial tension,” said Fr Gary Donegan CP, who has spent years working in Ardoyne. “It was the easiest and most peaceful Twelfth, and time and time again it shows you that you have to have experienced people on the ground, because it can all turn in the blink of an eye.”
Looking to the future Fr Donegan said “what we have to do, instead of patting ourselves on the back, is just actually have an honest review”.
Leadership
“What needs to be shown is leadership,” he said, continuing that the peaceful parades could give politicians in Stormont “an opportunity”. He said they should “use this” and “if the community can get through its most divisive, difficult and contentious time, then take the lead from there”.
Meanwhile, the son of the late Deputy Minister Martin McGuinness has called for an end to “displays of hate” at loyalist bonfires after a coffin bearing a picture of his father was placed on one in Belfast.
Emmett McGuinness said he was “very thankful that I was raised by parents never to hate anyone or anything” and that the “annual display of hate must end”.