"We cannot afford to step backward" - Celebs call for international mediator at Garvaghy Road

Nearly 50 international celebrities and public figures have signed a letter issued to Northern Ireland Secretary of State Chris Bryant on Tuesday afternoon, October 6, regarding the "impasse" at Garvaghy Road in Portadown, Co Armagh.

In the letter - which can be read in its entirety below - the signatories "respectfully urge" Bryant "to work in tandem with the Irish Government to appoint an independent international mediator from outside Ireland and Britain to facilitate a robust, durable resolution."

The letter says that an international mediator "offers a viable path forward," and the appointment of one would "lower the political temperature, restore public confidence in the mediation framework, and protect the wider peace process from staring into an avoidable abyss."

The letter comes as the dispute over the Portadown District Loyal Orange Lodge (LOL) No 1's parade on the primarily nationalist Garvaghy Road simmers on.

Northern Ireland's Parade Commission has described the annual Drumcree Church parade as "one of, if not the, most contentious parades in Northern Ireland," adding that "in the past, the parade resulted in some of the most serious and sustained disorder in the history of Northern Ireland, including loss of life and serious injury. It has led to raised community tensions and disorder across Northern Ireland."

Since 1998, the year the Parades Commission was formed, the Orange Order's Drumcree Church parade has been permitted, though with certain restrictions, including that it does not go down the Garvaghy Road.

This year, however, the High Court quashed the Parades Commission's imposition of restrictions as part of a legal challenge brought forward by a member of the Orange Order.

As such, on September 25, on the basis of a new application, the Parades Commission granted the Portadown District Loyal Orange Lodge (LOL) No 1 permission to march on the Garvaghy Road on Sunday, September 27.

The following day, the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition (GRRC) lodged a legal challenge against the Commission's decision, and the Belfast High Court issued a temporary injunction stopping the parade. The Orange Order appealed the temporary injunction, which was upheld that evening. Following a late-night sitting of the High Court, it was decided - just hours before the parade's planned start of 8 am on September 27 - that the parade could go ahead.

However, Garvaghy Road residents and their supporters blocked and continue to block the march from going ahead, giving way to a major policing operation, more legal challenges, and political controversy. 

On Monday, the Court of Appeal reserved judgment in the case brought by the Garvaghy Road residents against the Parades Commission.

Tuesday's letter is not the first of its kind in relation to the Garvaghy Road dispute. On October 1, the US Congressional Friends of Ireland Caucus wrote to Bryant, calling on the British Government to cancel the Orange Order parade on Garvaghy Road.

The same day, a group of more than 140 people from the Protestant community wrote to Bryant and Ireland's Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Helen McEntee, urging the British and Irish governments to work together as well as urging the Orange Order to "bring this impasse to an end."

On Saturday, Catholic Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin and Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh John McDowell together called upon people "to pray for peace across the island of Ireland and beyond" as the community faces the ongoing crisis at Drumcree.

Dear Secretary of State,

We the undersigned are writing to you with a sense of profound urgency regarding the current impasse surrounding the Garvaghy Road parading dispute in Portadown. 

Following the breakdown of recent talks at Hillsborough Castle, it has become increasingly evident that local mechanisms have exhausted their current utility and that a fresh, independent framework is required to prevent a deeper crisis. Therefore, we respectfully urge you to work in tandem with the Irish Government to appoint an independent international mediator from outside Ireland and Britain to facilitate a robust, durable resolution.

The current stand-off serves as a stark reminder of the fragile nature of our shared peace. We must collectively reflect on the extraordinary legacy of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which established the foundational principles of mutual respect, dialogue, and cross-community parity of esteem. 

Over the last twenty-eight years, the hard-won peace in Northern Ireland has allowed an entire generation to grow up free from the anguish and violence of the past. To allow old wounds to be aggressively reopened risks destabilising community relations not only in Portadown but across society in the North.

Central to any just resolution must be the primacy and protection of the local community. The residents of the Garvaghy Road endured years of profound trauma, fear, and disruption during the height of the parading conflicts in the 1990s. After nearly three decades of hard-earned calm, it is entirely unacceptable that this community should face a return to that anxiety. It is paramount that the residents be robustly protected from any form of forced processions that disregard their consent, safety, and right to live in peace free from intimidation.

The Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland has already explicitly warned of the potentially catastrophic consequences of attempting to force a contentious march through this community.

An international mediator — possessing a proven background in deeply rooted cultural conflicts and entirely unburdened by domestic political pressures — offers a viable path forward. Such an appointment would lower the political temperature, restore public confidence in the mediation framework, and protect the wider peace process from staring into an avoidable abyss.

We submit this appeal as individuals who have seen firsthand the immense benefit that the harmony of British-Irish relations brings to these islands, offering a powerful blueprint for what can be achieved through genuine partnership.

We cannot afford to step backward. We urge you to exercise courageous political leadership at this critical juncture by looking to the international community for a neutral arbiter who can guide all sides toward a shared, peaceful future.

Thank you for your time, consideration, and ongoing dedication to preserving stability in Northern Ireland. We look forward to your response.

Signatories:

1. Jim Sheridan: film director, screenwriter, and producer
2. Terry George: film director, screenwriter, and producer
3. Ken Loach: film director, screenwriter, and producer
4. Trevor Birney: film director, producer, and journalist
5. Don Letts: film director and disc jockey
6. Adrian Dunbar: actor
7. Susan Sarandon: actor
8. Maxine Peake: actor
9. Siobhán McSweeney: actor
10. Denise Gough: actor
11. Billy Howle: actor
12. Juliet Stevenson: actor
13. Tony Devlin: actor
14. Lisa Dwan: actor
15. Irvine Welsh: writer and screenwriter
16. Ronan Bennett: writer and screenwriter
17. Paul Laverty: writer and screenwriter
18. Jim Fitzpatrick: artist
19. Sara O'Neill: artist and fashion designer
20. Chris Sullivan: artist
21. Richard Corrigan: chef patron
22. Michael Mansfield: barrister
23. Eddie Dempsey: General Secretary of the RMT
24. Mick Lynch: former General Secretary of the RMT
25. Paul Weller (The Jam and The Style Council): singer and musician
26. Kevin Rowland (Dexys Midnight Runners): singer and musician
27. Sean Read (Dexys Midnight Runners): musician
28. Spider Stacy (The Pogues): singer and musician
29. Graham "Suggs" McPherson (Madness): singer and musician
30. Noel Gallagher (Oasis and Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds): singer and musician
31. Johnny Marr (The Smiths, Modest Mouse, the Cribs, The Pretenders, the The…): singer and musician
32. Siobhan Fahey (Bananarama and Shakespears Sister): singer
33. Paul Simonon (The Clash): musician
34. Imelda May: singer
35. Frances Black: singer and politician
36. Aoife Scott: singer
37. Davie Fury: singer and musician
38. Nadine Shah: singer
39. Mo Chara (Kneecap): rapper
40. Móglaí Bap (Kneecap): rapper
41. DJ Próvaí (Kneecap): rapper
42. Robert Del Naja (Massive Attack): musician
43. Neil Martin: musician and composer
44. Michael Timothy: musician and composer
45. Dan Lambert: music manager
46. Alan McGee: music industry executive
47. Jeff Barrett: music industry executive
48. Kevin Gamble: director of Féile an Phobail