“Tonight on the Garvaghy Road we seen Sinn Fein representatives, bussed in from other parts of Northern Ireland, joining with anti-Belfast Agreement republican Brendan McKenna to try and use a purely legal question over Drumcree to whip up their shrinking base. 

“Sinn Fein have had so many positions on this issue, they must have whiplash. For a judicial ruling which was- they said technical and irrelevant, they have certainly managed to whip themselves into a state of emotional turmoil. 

“They keep repeating incoherent and vacuous phrases like ‘no going back’. Going back where? 

“If the subtle hint is back to violence and disorder, they ought to explain who precisely would or who is proposing to take us back? 

“It is certainly not the Orange Order or unionist and loyalist community. 

“Do they still rule out any talks or mediation, or, as ever; will that position also be abandoned once the realisation dawns that stamping the feet and threatening no longer works?

I do welcome that it appears from tonight’s press conference, that the issue of mediation is no longer rejected. That is a welcome development. 

“The unionist, loyalist and Orange community will remain calm and continue to pursue this straightforward legal issue in that arena. We will not be distracted by Sinn Fein cosplaying as 1990s republicans, nor sucked into their efforts to whip up tension. 

“This issue must be resolved within the law, and the law alone. I note Sinn Fein have still failed to match the pledge of our community in that regard. 

“Sinn Fein’s talk about ‘rights’ has been exposed as being little more than an exercise in convenient labelling for their political demands. A truly rights-based society, which we seek, must be based upon the equitable and proportionate balancing of the rights of all sections of the community. 

“Sinn Fein believe they can stamp their feet and get their own way, they have yet to grasp what has occurred and the new reality. Once they do, it is time to come to the table and find a fair and balanced solution which respects the rights of all citizens, rather than the subjugation of rights endured by unionism for 28 years.”