Garvaghy Road residents apply for permission to hold Wolfe Tones concert in local Orange Hall

Paul McRingo | Northern Correspondent

The Garvaghy Road Residents Association has applied for permission to hold a concert by iconic rebel song balladeers The Wolfe Tones in Portadown Orange Hall.

The application was made to Craigavon Borough Council this morning and unsurprisingly has provoked a flurry of angry responses, not least from the local Orange Lodge.

Grandmaster Norman Winterbottom said the application to hold the concert is an outrage, telling reporters that the Orange Hall is located in a loyalist area of Portadown and there’s no way local people would tolerate tri-colours and nationalists “brazenly showing up on our streets wearing republican t-shirts.”

“This is blatant provocation. That hall has stood proudly on the King’s highway for over a hundred years. How would the Garvaghy residents like it if we turned up on their road wearing loyalist regalia carrying Union Jacks?”

Good point, Norman. That would also be blatant provocation.

Council officials have reportedly requested a list of the songs the Wolfe Tones intend to sing on the night.

An insider told us they are actually considering approving the application but that approval would be conditional on receiving assurances from the Wolfe Tones that they “will not sing that Ooh Ah, Up the Ra song.”

A decision by Craigavon Borough Council is expected later this week.