Court to hear challenge to disputed Drumcree parade decision

Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal is due to hear a challenge to the decision allowing a controversial Orange Order parade to pass along Portadown’s predominantly nationalist Garvaghy Road. The hearing is scheduled to begin in Belfast at about 10:30 BST. The Garvaghy Road Residents’ Coalition argues that the Parades Commission “materially misdirected itself” when assessing police evidence about the potential for disorder.

The application also claims that the commission did not accurately represent evidence from the Police Service of Northern Ireland. The commission decided on September 25 that the march could proceed with restrictions. The decision followed three separate legal hearings lasting about 13 hours and concluding in the early hours of the following Sunday.

The proposed march, from Drumcree Church into Portadown, did not take place last Sunday because of a large protest on the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road. Protesters have remained on the road, although their numbers have since fallen. The Portadown District Orange Lodge has maintained a presence at Drumcree Church, about a mile away.

Lawyers for the residents’ coalition made another legal application on Tuesday seeking to prevent the parade. Discussions aimed at resolving the dispute have continued, while PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher discussed the issue at a public meeting of the Policing Board in Belfast. The renewed confrontation has recalled earlier Drumcree disputes in the mid-to-late 1990s, which were accompanied by riots, roadblocks and killings.

The supplied report says the policing operation connected with the current dispute has cost about £3m so far. The Orange Order and residents remain deadlocked over whether the march should proceed. The Court of Appeal’s ruling will determine the next stage of the legal challenge, but the source material does not indicate when a decision will be issued.