Tom Kelly: Common sense has prevailed at Drumcree, but the target of the wreckers will now be Stormont

Share current article via FacebookShare current article via PinterestShare current article via TwitterShare current article via LinkedInTom KellyTom Kelly is an Irish News columnist with a background in politics and public relations. He is also a former member of the Policing Board.

ExpandCarla Lockhart, Jamie Bryson and Jim Allister outside Belfast High Court following a hearing on the Drumcree parade dispute PICTURE: BRIAN LINCOLN By Tom KellyOctober 12, 2026 at 6:00am BSTSo, at last, common sense – that commodity so rare in the current Parades Commission – has prevailed as the Secretary of State has banned the proposed Orange Order march on the Garvaghy Road.

This was and is the only sensible solution to the growing tension.

Residents will be relieved, as will the vast majority of the general public. The Parades Commission, through error and incompetence, opened Pandora’s Box and nearly tipped the north into chaos.

But let’s not fool ourselves: the Orange Order are the authors of this writ, and the Secretary of State had no other option. They will still try to burn their house down and ours with it.

The crash-and-burn tactics of the TUV were doomed from the outset. Now the target will be Stormont.

But the lack of support for the Orange Order amongst mainstream unionism is self-evident. The public have nothing but disdain for wreckers.

Predicting Michelle O’Neill’s (or whoever Sinn Féin anoints) ascension to First Minister again next year is not difficult. The DUP will likely be a distant runner-up.

However, if Chris Bryant demonstrates further courage and renames the Executive Office to include joint First Ministers, it could potentially dampen the tribal rush to the polls.

Since the St Andrews Agreement (not so much an agreement as a carve-up), the two main protagonists, the DUP and Sinn Féin, have been engaged in a competition to see who could metaphorically pee highest up the wall.

Without intervention on Stormont reforms, there will never be another unionist leader who will hold the title of First (or joint First) Minister for Northern Ireland. That’s a fact even Mr Bryson can’t spin away.

The plight of the Garvaghy Road community is all too real. A so-called ‘one and done’ solution is overly simplistic and only works if there’s an enforceable guarantee that the Orange Order never walks the road again.

Identifying what that guarantee entails, who signs up to it, and ultimately who enforces it, is akin to the pursuit of the Holy Grail.

The language and antics of the unholy Trinity – Allister, Lockhart and Bryson – suggests they’d reject it anyhow (It’s baffling why Lockhart isn’t already a member of the TUV). Their rhetoric was overblown, over-egged, and bordering on fanatical.

No politician (or anyone else) should ever be subjected to personal abuse, whether it’s Zack Polanski or Carla Lockhart. Politicians should be held to account only for their views.

But the use of the word mob at times is overplaying the sense of victimhood.

It was a mob which surrounded and descended on the late David Trimble and his wife Daphne as they left the count in Banbridge when he lost his seat. Vile and vicious, some of whom were in the DUP. It was a loyalist mob which went on the rampage in Ballymena in a pogrom against immigrants a year ago.

Politics is a robust sport, and being heckled is part of that, even if unedifying.

The same type of ignoramuses who attack Ms Lockhart are also fond of slagging off Claire Hanna or Naomi Long. Misogyny is deep in politics and is barely disguised. And it is true women bear the lion’s share of abuse. Where it happens, it should be called out.

Timothy Gaston, the TUV’s sole MLA, has doubled down on the march itself, declaring “Either the Orange Order goes down the Garvaghy Road or Stormont goes down”. Having only one seat to lose must account for such boldness.

The TUV often seems like a party whose sole purpose is to arrive in Northern Ireland around 1955.

Like the fabled lost tribe of Israel, there’s an element in political unionism which actually believes they represent the last bastion of Christian sovereignty.

It appears to be an echo chamber of mostly grumpy old men and women. They are often supported by an assortment of keyboard marionettes, political wannabes and fringe agitators, all trading on limited emotional and intellectual intelligence.

Some sensible heads within the Orange Order apparently saw ‘one and done’ as an acceptable price to free them from the idiotic hook they are impaled on. The problem is simple. Their folly has brought them close to the point of no return.

The court’s ruling on the Parades Commission decision is nearly irrelevant. Almost certainly, both sides will take the Garvaghy Road march all the way to the European Court of Human Rights.

The threats to re-open already closed or settled marching disputes until Garvaghy is resolved are mostly sabre-rattling, but that too could take a life of its own.

On the whole, the overtly Sinn Féin-driven (and seemingly organised) protests could prove to be counterproductive. It is a long way to July 2027, and even the election is not until May – Northern Ireland cannot afford to economically, politically or socially spend the intervening period in a weekly re-enactment of the Battle of the Boyne.

Platforming these re-enactments on a daily basis on the BBC adds little value, and yes, the fourth estate has both obligations and responsibilities to wider society.

The Nolan Show coverage/debate of recent events is not helping the already tense situation the north finds itself in, as players and listeners rehash matters which could be better resolved by mediation and away from the daily spotlight.

The trauma of the past and the prospect of it returning is all too real as collective memory is shared. A political version of gladiators is the last thing the north needs at this moment.

It is also true to suggest that had the Nolan Show existed at the time of the Good Friday Agreement, it is highly doubtful the agreement would have got off the ground.

As it is, the BBC central command has decided, in their lack of wisdom, to cull the Hole in the Wall Gang and Blame Game in what they described as a cost-cutting measure.

Whilst it’s true that the comedy show has moved on to Stormont – a place which closes early because the inmates incredulously run out of business to discuss – surely a wee sliver of humour is better than a daily dose of Punch and Judy?

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