27 September 2026

SDLP Leader Claire Hanna MP said:

“I have spent this morning with residents of Garvaghy Road. They are understandably angry and anxious at the reopening of one of the most painful and difficult chapters in our recent history.

“People here deserve to live in peace. Nobody asked to be placed at the centre of a dispute which we thought had been consigned to history.

“What is being asked of each side is not equal. Residents live on this road. They work here, raise their families here and send their children to school here. They have to be here but the parade has numerous uncontested options.

“The courts have ruled on the legal position, although without full exploration of the mounting failings by the Parades Commission, there remains an important distinction between what is legally permissible and what is responsible or right.

“It is also important to clarify that the application to protest was withdrawn as part of the court order and the decision reversed just hours before the parade was due to start and while the court was closed.

“The Orange Order knows the history of Garvaghy Road. It knows that this is about much more than the passage of a parade. It knows the hurt, fear and potential consequences involved. At a moment like this, having the legal right to do something does not remove the responsibility to consider whether it should be done.

“I have urged the Chief Constable and the Secretary of State to use every power available to them to prevent this situation escalating further. The potential consequences extend far beyond one street or one parade.

“At moments like this, we need political leadership more than ever. Anger, fear and discontent grow in a vacuum. Walking away from the institutions would create more uncertainty and instability at exactly the moment when political leaders should be working to lower the temperature, provide reassurance and find a way through.

“Everyone with influence over what happens next has a responsibility to exercise it with restraint and to deescalate what is a volatile situation. Nobody should want to drag Northern Ireland back into a dispute that caused enormous hurt and division, and which people here have spent almost three decades trying to leave behind.”