THE core principle for all parades – whether unionist or republican – is that they shouldn’t occur in areas where local residents oppose them.

No political organisation has the right or privilege to force marches into communities which feel threatened by their presence.

This is a simple premise even four-year-olds could grasp.

However, over the past week, we’ve seen adults – many of whom should know better – escalating their rhetoric to create disruption and division.

Sarah Creighton: I don’t say this lightly, but the Stormont system needs to go

Tom Kelly: The Parades Commission chair must go – but loyalism’s tantrum squad should shut up too

The usual loyalist tantrum squad turned up at Drumcree to smirk and howl at the moon as if they’d won the lottery. They hadn’t even bought a ticket.

Craig and Carson must be deeply disappointed at how far loyalism’s leadership has descended into a farce, led by political incompetents who make Home Alone bad guys Harry and Marv look proficient.

Some DUP hardliners seem to be engaged in a strongman competition with the TUV, but if they truly believe scraping the barrel of loyalism is a good idea, they are going to have a rude awakening. This 2026, not 1974 or 1998.

Let’s consider the impact of the High Court quashing the Parades Commission ruling on a Garvaghy Road parade.

This wasn’t a simple clerical error and, even if we accept the most generous interpretation, it has the potential for a perilous situation.

Inadvertently, the current commission may have just lifted the lid of Pandora’s........

© The Irish News