10 July 1997 Edition
Residents meet Dublin government
A joint delegation from Lower Ormeau Concerned Community and the Garvaghy Road Residents' Group met the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern and Foreign Minister Ray Burke on Wednesday. During the hour-long meeting, the residents gave first-hand accounts of the brutality of the RUC and British Army in forcing the Orange Order march through the Garvaghy Road last Sunday.
The delegates raised the issue of when and on what basis the decision to force the march through the Garvaghy Road was taken, and stated in the strongest possible terms that they believed that a conspiracy existed at the highest level in the NIO.
Later, the residents said the Taoiseach and his minister were left in no doubt that the groups believed that from mid-June onwards no alternative to forcing the Orange march through the Garvaghy Road had even been considered. They said that they considered the consultation process which the Secretary of State had indulged in as no more than a cynical dupe intended to cloud the issues and create an illusion of an open agenda when in fact the opposite was true.
The delegates raised the issue of when and on what basis the decision to force the march through the Garvaghy Road was taken, and stated in the strongest possible terms that they believed that a conspiracy existed at the highest level in the NIO.
Later, the residents said the Taoiseach and his minister were left in no doubt that the groups believed that from mid-June onwards no alternative to forcing the Orange march through the Garvaghy Road had even been considered. They said that they considered the consultation process which the Secretary of State had indulged in as no more than a cynical dupe intended to cloud the issues and create an illusion of an open agenda when in fact the opposite was true.