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# The Human Cost Of Orange Supremacy
- URL: https://aontachtmedia.ie/the-human-cost-of-orange-supremacy/
- Published: 2026-09-30T11:40:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-30T11:40:00.000Z
- Description: Between 1996 and 2000, twenty one people were murdered in incidents related to the Drumcree parade disputes. The vast majority of these were civilians from a Catholic background, targeted by Loyalist paramilitaries.
- Author: Aoife Kilbane McGowan
- Tags: Critical Analysis

If one is to believe the countless articles on Generation Kneecap and the smashing success of the Fleadh earlier this summer, then a United Ireland has never been so close in the 21st century. And I do believe the hype, to an extent. The children are laughing (and running around in tricolour balaclavas), the language is (at least superficially) on the rise, cross border travel has more than doubled since 2019.

I will not be the first to suggest that the Orange Order forcing the residents of the Garvaghy Road to relive one of the most violent chapters of the Troubles is a direct response to the soft Irish cultural revolution. It makes sense— an ideology rooted in sectarianism has nothing to offer its supporters once the structures of Orange supremacy are disintegrating. But as we witness the death throes of Ulster Unionism, we cannot lose sight of the human lives cut short and the communities traumatised. This is not a culture war, nor an issue of inclusion for people from a PUL background. That framing must be wholeheartedly rejected.

I worry that many people outside the six counties are unaware of the history of the Garvaghy Road. Here is a small snapshot of the immense human misery born out of this chapter of our history.

Between 1996 and 2000, twenty one people were murdered in incidents related to the Drumcree parade disputes. The vast majority of these were civilians from a Catholic background, targeted by Loyalist paramilitaries.

**The Quinn Brothers**

**Richard (11), Mark (10), ans Jazon (8)**

Firebombed by the UVF in their home in Ballymoney on 12 July 1998\. They were sleeping. Their cries woke up their mother, who struggled to find them in the smoke-filled house. She assumed they had escaped when she jumped out her bedroom window to safety. They had not.

Only Garfield Gilmore, the driver, was convicted. The three other accomplices walk free.

**Michael McGoldrick (31)**

He was working as a taxi driver in Lurgan in July 1995, when the march was first blocked from the Garvaghy Road. Members of the UVF booked a taxi under the name “Lavery” from the segregated dispatcher, so they would be sent a Catholic driver. They shot Michael five times in the head and left him in his car, slumped over the steering wheel.

**Robert Hamill (25)**

Walking with a friend through Portadown town centre on the way home from a night out, he was beaten by a group of around 20 men. As he was being attacked, punched and kicked repeatedly on the ground, the mob shouted “kill him, kill the fenian bastard.”

A new Ireland is on the horizon, a united socialist republic is possible. We cannot go back to the past, and allow sectarian bigots to draw our movement into their squabbling. One day the plough and the stars will belong to the people, and political leaders will no longer be able to sustain their careers on stoking hatred and posting ai pictures of Charlie Kirk.

Solidarity to the residents of the Garvahy Road.

![](https://aontachtmedia.ie/content/images/2026/09/c207c7ea-3808-48f7-b16c-c1728563320f_300x180.jpg)