13th October 2026
The Morning Show was hosted by Donal Kavanagh with Seamus Gunn opening the discussion on the stand-off on the Garvaghy Road following the decision of the Parade’s Commission last Friday to allow one of the most contentious parades in Northern Ireland to go ahead along the route from Drumcree Church down the Garvaghy Road returning to the Orange Hall on Carleton Street. Donal Kavanagh enquired if the matter was now to be settled by the Courts, a point on which Gunn did not readily agree as he thought that any decision that was imposed on one side would meet with the displeasure of the other and as the parties were so polarised, he had reservations about such a resolution. He referenced the background of the last 28 years when the parade’s commission had ruled against the use of the route, citing that after a decision in July had been overturned on a technical point, the latest application to march had been successful. He noted the suggestion to date of the Resident’s Association accepting the Court ruling with the orange order agreeing not to exercise it, was not met with approval, he thought that mediation was unlikely to be fruitful as one cannot have half a march. A further proposal of one last march and no more was highly unlikely to resolve this standoff. On the one hand there is a claim by the orange order that there is a denial of civil liberties and that the law is now on their side in respect of this march, while on the other there is a reopening of a sense of trauma and hurt going back some 30 years when 21 people lost their lives from the fallout from the protests and riots that ended with the parade commission being set up. The rationale behind the decision is now being challenged and due before the Courts next week. Gunn was of the view that dialogue should continue and was not convinced about this Court strategy by the residents as if unsuccessful, would the ruling be accepted. In the meantime, the standoff continues.
The Q&A that followed was wide and varied.