Orange Order submits proposals for Ardoyne Twelfth return march

The County Grand Orange Lodge of Belfast has made a new application for a Twelfth return parade past the Ardoyne shops in north Belfast.

It said the application was a "genuine and serious" attempt to resolve the north Belfast parading dispute.

It hopes to have the return Twelfth parade on the morning of July 13.

It is understood nationalist residents group CARA wants an opportunity to discuss the new application before making any comment.

An eight-year agreement between lodge and nationalist residents broke down earlier this month. That had ended what at the time was Northern Ireland’s most volatile parading dispute, in the Woodvale/Ardoyne area of north Belfast.

In a statement, the County Grand Orange Lodge of Belfast said: "After careful consideration, and a period of intensive consultation involving the Orange Institution, the local community and political representatives, we are announcing an initiative aimed at resolving the outstanding differences around parading on the Crumlin Road.

"Currently, there are five morning parades and one contested evening return parade in relation to the 12th July.

"In a genuine and serious attempt to overcome our differences and as a solution to address the contention surrounding the evening return parade, we propose its replacement with a morning homeward return parade on the 13th of July.

"To this end, a new application has been submitted to the Parades Commission.

This magnanimous and serious effort underscores our commitment to finding a fair, peaceful and lasting solution. It addresses the concerns raised by all parties involved in the dispute and ensures that the rights of the three local lodges and the Protestant community to return home are upheld.

"With the same spirit of cooperation and understanding demonstrated in this initiative, we believe the foundation for a just and long-term resolution to the parading dispute is within our grasp. "

The flashpoint has previously witnessed serious loyalist and republican rioting when tensions linked to a contentious Orange march boiled over.

A 24/7 loyalist protest camp was set up at the sectarian interface in 2013 when the Parades Commission – a government-appointed adjudication panel for controversial marches – prevented Orangemen belonging to three Orange lodges passing the nationalist Ardoyne along the Crumlin Road as they returned from traditional Twelfth commemorations. Nightly protests were held in the nearby unionist Woodvale/Twaddell area in the years after that, with a protest parade every Saturday. The policing operation at the site has cost in excess of £20 million over three years. After protracted negotiations, an accord between the three lodges and the main nationalist residents group – the Crumlin Ardoyne Residents Association (Cara) – was reached in 2016. It saw the Orangemen complete the outstanding leg of their 2013 parade on a morning in September 2016, after which the loyalist camp at the interface was dismantled and all associated protests ended. From that point on, the lodges agreed not to apply for any more return parades on the Twelfth until a wider agreement on the issue was reached. In return, Cara agreed not to protest at the lodges’ already permitted outward parade on the morning of the Twelfth.

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