An agreement which ended violence around an Orange Order parade dispute in north Belfast has collapsed.

Talks to maintain the 2016 deal broke down last week, with a march past Ardoyne shops now being sought on the evening of 12 July.

A protest by a nationalist residents’ group is planned in response.

The Parades Commission will rule on the matter in two weeks’ time, with the police monitoring developments closely.

The Order claimed the Crumlin Ardoyne Residents Association (Cara) had “weaponised” engagement and accused them of “bad-faith dialogue.”

Earlier, Sinn Fein north Belfast MLA Gerry Kelly said it was “deeply concerning” that a parade has been applied for.

“Sinn Féin will continue to stand with residents in their opposition to this parade which contravenes the 2016 agreement,” he added.

The 2016 deal was struck between a number of Orange lodges and Cara, and defused what had become one of Northern Ireland’s most contentious parading situations.

Cara undertook not to object to any existing morning parades, which usually take place about 08:30.

In return, the lodges agreed to a “voluntary moratorium” on applying for evening return parades.

The agreement stated: “This moratorium would allow for a process between the lodges and Cara to seek agreement on future return parades and if agreement is achieved, the moratorium would be lifted.”

The agreement almost faltered last year, when there were applications to parade past Ardoyne shops in the evening.

However, the situation was defused and none took place.

Now the Orange Order has said the 2016 deal has broken down.

In a statement, Spencer Beattie, Belfast County Grand Master, said: “Hundreds of hours of work and dozens of face-to-face discussions have been undermined by Cara, who have weaponised the dialogue process.

“This cynical and malicious refusal to allow the three local Orange lodges and their Protestant neighbours the right to return home is a flagrant breach of the agreement and a blatant disregard for the most fundamental of human rights.

“Regrettably, this bad faith dialogue on the part of Cara has meant a collapse of the 2016 parading agreement.”

He added the Order is “resolute” on a “right” to a return march, “no matter the opposition or threat of violence.”

The Parades Commission will now take soundings before making a decision, which is currently due on 3 July.

Last year it said applications for an evening parade showed a “wanton disregard” for the agreement which had secured years of peace.

I was told that the cracks of this deal were papered over last year when parade applications were withdrawn or, essentially came to nothing but those cracks cannot and will not be papered over this summer.

Police are watching the situation closely – this could have major implications for the policing of the 12th of July in north Belfast.

As well as the violence that this parade witnessed about a decade ago, there was also a £22m policing bill over the years to attempt to keep the situation calm before agreement was put in place.

Parading in Northern Ireland has been transformed in the last decade or so.

Of course there are still parades of contention, but this situation has by-in-large been completely diffused.

But this is going to present a big challenge for The Parades Commission and the enforcement of whatever determination it makes.

The dispute began after a Parades Commission determination not to allow the return leg to pass a section of the Crumlin Road in 2013.

It passes a stretch of the Crumlin Road that separates unionist and nationalist communities.

In 2013 the Parades Commission ruled that the Ligoniel lodges were allowed to walk the stretch of the road in the morning, but it could not march the route on a return leg.

This sparked almost nightly protests from loyalists – known as the Twaddell Avenue protest – which lasted for more than three years.

An agreement between the Orange Lodge and the Crumlin Ardoyne Residents Association (Cara) was reached on 24 September 2016.

Cara agreed it would not object to any existing morning parades and the lodges agreed to a “voluntary moratorium” on applying for evening return parades.

In June 2023, the Ballysillan lodge launched and withdrew an application for a parade in the area, which the Parades Commission said served “only to heighten tensions in a period of political instability and risks serious public disorder.”

At the time, Cara said it considered the application for an evening parade to be “an act of bad faith”.

On 19 June 2024 the agreement collapsed as the Orange Order, again, applied to march past the Ardoyne shops on 12 July evening.