THE Parades Commission has given permission for an Orange Order parade on the Garvaghy Road in Portadown on Sunday. 

The Parades Commission ruled that no more than 35 people, including five named marshals, can take part in the parade, which will depart Drumcree Church at 8am on Sunday September 27. No supporters can accompany the parade during any part of the route, the Parades Commission said with only the banner of Portadown District LOL No 1 being permitted to be carried.

Speaking on RTÉ  Breandán Mac Cionnaith from the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition said residents were in shock, adding that they were angry with the decision.

"The community are fearful about what will happen over the weekend and are applying to the High Court in Belfast to overturn the decision," he said.

''I don't know what's going to happen here on Sunday, but I do know a precedent has now been set that reopens the whole (marching issue) in this year right across the north.

"What's going to happen in Derry for the next march – these places that have reached agreement with the loyalist orders? So all those marches where agreements were made are literally being torn up by the Parades Commission decision."

The Irish government said it is very concerned with the determination.

"The Government is conscious of the very difficult and traumatic history associated with parades on the Garvaghy Road. The Government does not want to see a return to the divisions of the past. That would be a retrograde step.

"Government officials have been liaising closely with residents in the area.

"The Government is aware that an appeal of the determination is now likely. It is important that all parties continue to respect the legal process as they have done to date."

This afternoon, First Minister Michelle O'Neill condemned the decision to allow the parade to go ahead.

The Sinn Féin Vice-President said: “There is no reasonable or logical basis for the Parades Commission’s announcement that permission has been granted to force an unwanted Orange march through the Garvaghy Road community this Sunday.

“For 28 years, the Garvaghy Road community has lived in peace, and the people of that community have been able to get on with their lives.

“28 years of peace was not a problem that required a solution. It was a peace that needed to be protected.

“This march is steeped in a history of hate, sectarian violence, and murder.

“People right across the North are absolutely dismayed.

“Sinn Féin stands fully with the Garvaghy Road community, and they will have the full support of Nationalists from right across Ireland in the period ahead.”

The last parade forced through the Catholic Garvaghy Road took place in 1997. In the late 1990s several high profile loyalist murders were linked to Orange Order attempts to march along the Garvaghy Road, including the Quinn brothers, Richard (10), Mark (9) and Jason Quinn (8).

Earlier this month the Orange Order made an application to the Parades Commission to march from Drumcree Church along Garvaghy Road after a ruling by the Parades Commission to impose restrictions on July's march was quashed in the High Court following a legal challenge brought by a member of the Orange Order.

This week nationalist residents’ groups who were formed at the height of tensions surrounding loyalist parades through nationalist areas in the late 1990s, warned that a parade down the Garvaghy Road in Portadown this weekend could lead to the unravelling of their own deals with the Loyal Orders in their areas.

Reacting to the Parades Commission decision, West Belfast People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll called it "shameful".

“28 years of peace on the Garvaghy Road was not a problem in need of fixing. Residents made their opposition to this march known in overwhelming numbers, and they have been ignored," he said.

“Since the High Court ruling, the Orange Order and unionist politicians have waged a campaign of pressure against the Parades Commission. Days later, the Commission has delivered them what they always wanted. This sequence of events will not be lost on anyone.

“The Commission says its determination should not be seen as a victory for one side or a loss for another. They should tell that to the residents who spent this week living in fear of what’s coming next. Cutting the numbers and moving the start time doesn’t change the malicious character of this march or the message it sends to the people who live there.”

Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín said he has spoken to families on the Garvaghy Road since the Parades Commission ruling was published this afternoon.

"Mothers are in tears, in real fear for safety of their children," he said. "The community is devastated and terrified. At the height of the Drumcree Parade in the 1990s, 21 innocent people lost their lives. It is beyond believe that this nightmare is about to revisit the residents.

"We understand that the residents are looking to go to court to get an injunction against this march. Aontú has contacted the office of the Taoiseach urging the Taoiseach to use his influence to stop this march. It is really important that the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minster understand just how destabilising this is for community relations. Anyone who understands the history of the Troubles will know the role played by Orange marches in stetting the fuse that led to so much bloodshed."

West Belfast Independent councillor Paul Doherty branded the decision "shocking and wrong".

"I was a teenager when Drumcree was at its height. I remember the violence, the sectarianism and a nationalist community being told that the demand from the Orange Order to march through their area mattered more than the wishes of the people who lived there," he said.

"When I think back to those dark days, I think of all those whose lives were lost and the families who were left carrying that pain. Above all, I think of Richard, Mark and Jason Quinn. Three little boys killed as they slept in their beds in July 1998, amid the violence surrounding the Drumcree crisis.

"We cannot forget where that period took us. It was wrong then and it is wrong now."