Orangemen in Co Armagh have pleaded with the Parades Commission to be allowed down the Garvaghy Road while nationalists are distracted by the All-Ireland football final this Sunday.
Members of the order in Portadown have notified the Parades Commission of its intention to march from Drumcree Church through the nationalist district.
Organisers say the parade, which will include two bands and an unspecified number of participants and supporters, will leave the Drumcree Road before making its way to Carleton Street on Sunday.
The parade is due to take place around the same time that Armagh take on Galway in the All-Ireland football final at Croke Park in Dublin.
Those unable to get tickets to travel to the capital are expected to pack clubs, pubs and living rooms across the Orchard County to cheer on their team.
Large parts of Co Armagh, including the Garvaghy Road, have been decorated in the county’s distinctive orange and white GAA colours.
While much of the county is in the grip of All-Ireland hysteria, it is understood loyalists in Portadown have shown their hostility by topping Eleventh Night bonfires with Armagh flags.
Earlier this month the Parades Commission placed restrictions on a similar march along the Garvaghy Road, also for this Sunday but with an earlier start time of 1pm.
In a statement Orangemen have confirmed a new application has been made for a 3pm start.
In a statement posted on social media on behalf of Portadown district, Orangemen claimed that applying for the parade at 3pm on Sunday “will bring the least impact on the majority of the community that live there as most will either be away to Croke Park, or will be in clubs, pubs or at home watching and supporting their County, Armagh GAA playing in the final of the All-Ireland”.
“As a district we believe that this is an opportunity where the 1998 parade can be completed without bringing major disruption to the area and community,” the statement added.
The post also claimed that the area had changed in recent decades.
“Over the last 26 years there has been a big change in demographics … with a lot of foreign nationals coming into the area, so we believe that the time is now to look at all the factors again.”
The Parades Commission is due to consider the Orange Order’s application on Wednesday.
Breandán MacCionnaith, of the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition, dismissed the latest attempt by Orangemen to march along the Garvaghy Road.
“It is not unexpected from them, anything that attempts to breath life into a dead issue,” he said.
The Drumcree dispute began in 1995 when nationalists blocked the return route of an Orange Order parade.
After a three-day stand-off, the parade finally went ahead after nationalists agreed to end their protest.
There were violent clashes between the RUC, Orangemen and their supporters, resulting in the parade being banned.
That decision was later reversed, resulting in nationalist protesters being forcibly removed from the Garvaghy Road.
At the height of the stand-off, Catholic taxi driver Michael McGoldrick (31) was shot dead by the UVF outside Lurgan.
In 1997 the Orange Order was again allowed to march along the Garvaghy Road after the area was flooded by police in the early hours of Drumcree Sunday.
Priests were forced to celebrate Mass in front of British army lines after local people were blocked from attending a local church.
The dispute around the parade was also linked to a deadly sectarian arson attack carried out by the UVF that claimed the lives of Catholic schoolboys Richard (10), Mark (9) and Jason Quinn (8) after their home was petrol bombed in Ballymoney, Co Antrim in the early hours of July 12, 1998.
The parade was eventually banned that year and while some Orangemen continued their ill-fated protest, others left Drumcree never to return.
While most nationalists consider the dispute to be long over, and many young people have no memory of an Orange parade in their area, some Orangemen continue to insist they be allowed through the nationalist area.
