Drumcree mediation faces impasse as nationalist group mounts legal challenge

Efforts to resolve the dispute over the Drumcree parade in Northern Ireland face a renewed impasse, as nationalist residents pursue a legal challenge and reject the prospects of mediation. The Garvaghy Road Residents’ Coalition has begun fresh proceedings seeking to restore the long-standing ban on the Orange Order marching along the nationalist Garvaghy Road. The group argues that the Parades Commission made a serious error in reaching its decision to permit the parade.

Its leader, Breandán Mac Cionnaith, said the community’s position was that the parade should not take place. He made the comments after meeting Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Bryant, who is holding talks with both sides of the dispute. Mac Cionnaith subsequently told residents that mediation was “dead in the water”.

Further meetings with Bryant were scheduled for Wednesday, while the coalition’s court hearing was listed for Friday. The Portadown Orange Order has continued to press for the march to proceed. Members left Drumcree church overnight on Tuesday and made another attempt to walk towards the route later that evening, accompanied by DUP MP Carla Lockhart.

They returned to the church on Wednesday morning and said they would remain there until police permitted the parade to be completed. Portadown district master Nigel Dawson described talks with Bryant about a possible mediator as constructive and said the organisation expected the law to be applied. The supplied material does not indicate that a settlement has been reached.

At a special High Court sitting, lawyers for the residents argued that the Parades Commission’s documentation focused on previous disorder rather than assessing future risks. Police have not attempted to disperse a continuing protest on Garvaghy Road, amid concerns that doing so could trigger violence.