Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 October 2026
4. Deputy Sinéad Gibney asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the engagement she has had with her British counterpart, the British ambassador, and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Chris Bryant, over the events of the past few days surrounding the Garvaghy Road in Portadown. [69715/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraWe are all familiar with the scars left on people across this island from the Troubles. We know the hard work done by the people of Garvaghy Road in Portadown to build peace, reconciliation and understanding in their own community. The developments of the last two weeks threaten to derail that peace.
What engagement has the Minister had, alongside her Government colleagues, in the past few days with her British counterparts and counterparts in the North?
I thank the Deputy. As she said, I do not think any of us expected to be here talking about the Garvaghy Road and the potential for a parade or march to be taking place, given the history and the fact that 28 years have passed without this parade. I do not want to get into the decision last week, but the Government's views are well-known in that regard. The focus and priority now have to be on how we move things forward and make sure there is a peaceful solution for the residents, in particular. I can see that for many residents they are quite literally back in 1997, such was the trauma that was inflicted at the time. We need to work together now to see how we find our way out of this.
I have engaged with a range of political parties, my team in the North and residents of the Garvaghy Road. I have engaged extensively with the Secretary of State, Chris Bryant, who has been in Northern Ireland for most of this week. Importantly, there has been significant dialogue and engagement by the Secretary of State with both parties - the residents of the Garvaghy Road and the Orange Order. The most important thing now is to allow time and space for those engagements to continue. While an agreement had not been reached yesterday evening, we saw the pronouncements from both sides. I hope that today those talks will resume and we are able to find a way forward. For all of us, it is about not skipping past what is happening now because we have to resolve this.
We still have to look at the wider picture. We have to look at what we can do. People are talking about having a referendum soon. What this highlights is that so much work still needs to be done in certain areas and communities to try to bring people together, whether through the reconciliation fund, the shared Ireland fund or the Northern Ireland Executive. We need to make sure that come the next election, we have an agreement in place that allows the parties to continue to work together and to look to the future. That has to be our focus and our priority from a Government perspective as well as everything else.
I am engaging continuously. The Taoiseach has engaged with the Prime Minister. Our teams are working to support in any manner we can. Now is a really important moment to allow those engagements to continue.
I thank the Minister for outlining her position. I was on the Garvaghy Road on Sunday. I also met the residents last week. I was living and studying in the North during the last eruption of violence on the Garvaghy Road in the late nineties. The residents' message is clear and they are a genuinely dignified and clear group of people. We need to be careful about some of the messaging around the two sides in this debate because for me there is a clear act of provocation happening from one side, unfortunately, and on the other side what we have seen is compromise and work at peace and reconciliation over decades for their community, all of which is being undermined and torn apart right now. I urge the Government to engage with residents of the Garvaghy Road.
I do not know from the comments of the Minister if that has happened yet or if she simply described the engagement she has had with the Secretary of State. I have concerns around the time and space she mentioned in respect of finding a solution. I appreciate that has to be the case but, nonetheless, every day, minute and hour that this stand-off continues erodes peace in Northern Ireland. It erodes trust in the institutions from both communities, but I would particularly focus on those living on the Garvaghy Road right now.
I thank the Deputy and appreciate the comments she has made. It is important, given where we are now and the engagement that has happened and is happening in quite a short space of time, that we allow communities the time and space to try to find a way forward. A legal case is coming up. Given what happened last weekend with the courts, nobody wants another weekend where we have something similar happening. A huge amount of work has been done this week to bring people together and try and find a way forward.
I have been very clear, as have the Taoiseach and others, about our views as to what has happened. That being said, we have to make sure we can find a way forward that does not allow for a return to the past or what we know were very traumatic and horrific events in 1997 and before. That is my focus and priority. Our team has engaged with the residents. Legally, the situation is that the Government has no remit or role in parading. I am very conscious of that. At the same time, I have engaged consistently not just with the Secretary of State but others as well, with a view to bringing forward a resolution.
Beyond the actual issue of the parade, we need to make sure that we are in lockstep in what we are doing next and how we are working together to make sure the communities and residents on the road are supported. Beyond that, we can look at the political side of this with the Executive.
I agree the Government has made its position on the decision of the Parades Commission clear, although that was quite a number of days ago. I am not clear on what is happening from the Government in terms of the diplomatic efforts the Minister referenced. It would be helpful for us to know more about what exactly the Minister is urging people to do. I appreciate the jurisdictional issues, in that the Government does not have jurisdiction, but it has a huge diplomatic role to play in Dublin in respect of what is happening right now.
We know that the Parades Commission decision was wrong. We appreciate that there is complexity around that. More information is needed on that and on what happened with the PSNI's advice, which seems to be a complete misread of the situation. I heard the Taoiseach speak about it this week during Leaders' Question. He suggested that people were demonising the chief constable. That is not the case. We can call out an act that is wrong done by somebody who has also done good work. It is important that the Government asserts that view and makes sure those elements and levers that are available to the Government are being pushed. We cannot go back. This is a lifetime of trauma. There are generations of trauma for this community that needs to be handled delicately before we dial things back, as is the risk.
I agree with the comments of the Taoiseach this week. The PSNI has dealt with a very difficult situation this week and has been doing a very good job. I met the chief constable and others not long ago. We spoke about the challenges that remain in Northern Ireland with the PSNI and different communities, how we can bring people together and how the PSNI can be more representative of both communities. There are many different challenges. This week Jon Boutcher and the community in the PSNI have done a very good job in what has been a very difficult circumstance.
I am in constant engagement with the Secretary of State and parties in the North. I travelled to the North. I am also conscious of the role that we as a Government have specifically in regard to parades, and the wider commitment and role we play in peace, security and power-sharing in Northern Ireland. We are working with all sides to try to make sure this issue can be resolved. Beyond that, we need to determine how we support the communities because support will be needed irrespective of what the agreement is or what process is put in place to move forward. I am already engaging with my colleagues and my colleagues in the North on that.
