Kelly comments following ‘Tour of the North’ parade

“I want to congratulate the residents group CARA (Crumlin Ardyone Residents Association) for the effective representation of the residents of Ardyone, Mountainview and the Dales on the issue of Friday’s Tour of the North Orange Parade,” said Sinn Féin North Belfast MLA Gerry Kelly.

“They were instrumental in ensuring an almost incident free night for everyone in the area. CARA maintained the principle of dialogue throughout the year to achieve a peaceful outcome in this Loyal Order parade not passing through these nationalist and republican areas.

“However after achieving a good result from the Parades Commission in barring this section of the parade, members of a self-styled group calling themselves the Greater Ardoyne Residents Collective (GARC) put up a large sign directly facing the Loyalist Twaddell Avenue which read “no parade, no violence”. They did this on the very evening that this section of the parade had been banned.

“While all nationalist and republicans are against any of these Loyal Order parades going through or passing nationalist areas, this particular action carried out on the very day the parade was successfully banned, was no more than a deliberate attempt to provoke a reaction from Loyalists. I welcome the fact that no one reacted to this deliberate provocation. This resulted in a well deserved respite for both nationalist and unionist residents who live in the area.

“There are a number of residents groups properly constituted and elected by the people to represent different parts of Greater Ardoyne. GARC is self-styled, non-elected and constituted, it would seem, for the sole purpose of undermining other residents groups and undermining possible peaceful resolutions to existing issues.

“As an elected representative for the area I am prepared to speak to the membership of GARC openly and honestly about any issues affecting the Greater Ardoyne area or indeed anything else they may wish to talk about. However, it must be said that so far this group seems entirely intent on confrontation with all that that entails for residents living in the area, instead of actually working to a peaceful resolution.”