The murders of three young children in Ballymoney were recorded as having “changed the mood” in Northern Ireland following a period of sustained violence at the height of the Drumcree standoff in 1998.
Newly released state papers show how then secretary of state Mo Mowlam hoped the Orange Order would shift its position on the contentious parade in the wake of the deaths of the three Quinn brothers in the Co Antrim town.
The newly formed Parades Commission had banned the Orange Order from marching along the Garvaghy Road in Portadown on July 5, 1998. This led to violence lasting for a week in which the security forces were repeatedly attacked at Drumcree, as well as loyalist protests and violence in other parts of Northern Ireland.
