An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Seanad Éireann — 2026-09-29
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Sarah O'Reilly (AON), Agricultural Panel

Today, I raise the issue of the Garvaghy Road. I saw a TikTok of a woman who grew up on the Garvaghy Road who is now engaged to an Orange man, as she described him. That is the reality being lost in all the division. We cannot lose sight of the people who have bridged the divide and built families and homes together, regardless of whether they grew up in republican or unionist households.
As we enter the third day of protests at the Garvaghy Road, we need to remember that the powers that be thrive on polarised communities. When the cost of living is high, hospitals are overcrowded and people are locked out of housing, it is much easier to pit people against each other and to distract from years of policy failures. The decision to allow the Orange Order to march down the Garvaghy Road will only push people to the extremes and reopen old wounds. There has been so much positive work done in the past 30 years and we should do everything in our power to protect it.
Nobody benefits from sectarianism, except those in power. If Stormont collapses, the DUP and Sinn Féin will have to set themselves up for an election that distracts from all the day-to-day issues affecting every single person in the North, regardless of what side of Portadown you come from. Bertie Ahern, a former leader of Fianna Fáil who was at the helm of the Good Friday Agreement, put it right a while ago when he said they should not be looking for short-term gain for votes at a time when we need peace, people and leaders to work for that peace and shared similarities between communities, and not to stoke flames because of their differences.

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Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-09-29/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:00:59+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-29