Drumcree parade to go ahead following legal challenge

Belfast High Court has dismissed a challenge against an Orange Order parade on Portadown's Garvaghy Road later this morning.

It means 35 Orangemen will be permitted to walk the contested route.

Around a thousand people are gathered at the lower end of the Garvaghy Road blocking the road in anticipation of the march, which is set to come down the road after 8am.

There are also two cars parked across the road.

It is one of three groups gathered on the road, with another in the middle of the road and another at the top. The middle group is said to be the largest.

Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition leader Breandan Mac Cionnaith has addressed the crowd at the lower group, telling them to clear any glass off the road and paths so they will not be dragged over broken glass if they removed from the road by police.

Police officers are now at the lower end of the Garvaghy Road. They are in ordinary uniforms, not public order equipment, and have not approached the group blocking the road.

The decision to allow the march to go ahead followed 13 hours of legal arguments in several different courts.

Justice Michael Humphreys, ruling at 2.15am, said the decision by the Parades Commission of Northern Ireland to allow the march "could not be impugned" by way of judicial review.

The judge said the parades commission had been established by parliament to look after the disputes like Drumcree.

He said the courts must respect the judgement of such bodies and their decisions would not be "lightly interfered with".

Mr Justice Humphreys said the determination of the commission could have been more detailed, but ultimately needed only to be "intelligible".

"This determination meets that standard," he said.

He said as a result, he found the arguments advanced by the Garvaghy Road Residents had been "unarguable" and he had decided to refuse them leave to apply for a full judicial review.

That effectively ended the court challenge.

Outside court, Upper Bann DUP MP Carla Lockhart described the outcome as "seismic", and that the focus should now be on Sinn Féin's response to the judgement.

"We have a self-proclaimed first minister for all," she said.

"She has an almighty test ahead of her, and I can tell you now, she won't be forgiven by the unionist and loyalist people if she does not uphold the rule of law."

"It is her duty to do it, and we will be ensuring that she does just that," Ms Lockhart added.

In the early hours after the hearing, the Sinn Féin leadership arrived on the Garvaghy Road in Portadown.

As party leader Mary Lou McDonald watched on, her party vice-president and Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O'Neill addressed the assembled crowd.

She urged the crowd to adhere to the advice that they were being given, to "stay strong and to do so together".

"The advice is there to guide everybody and to keep everybody right, so please follow what you're being asked to do.

"Tonight, let's stay together, le chéile, le chéile, let's stay together," she said.

During last night's sitting of the Court of Appeals, Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan said the High Court judge who granted an injunction against the march had "unfortunately erred in law".

The Court of Appeal then approved a request for the case to be heard by a different High Court judge.

The Lady Chief Justice said doing so after midnight was "unprecedented" but the issues were of such significance it was merited.

Lawyers for the Garvaghy Road residents had asked for the case to be referred to a different High Court judge for reconsideration of the original judicial review.

That was opposed by counsel for the Orangeman and the Parades Commission who pointed to the lateness of the hour and the exhaustion of the legal representatives.

Members of the Orange Order had been banned from marching down the Garvaghy Road in Portadown after a High Court judge granted a temporary injunction.

Residents of the largely nationalist area launched an appeal against the parades commission ruling permitting the Orange Order to walk down the street for the first time in 30 years.

Ms Justice Patricia Smyth blocked the commission's decision, saying the "long-running dispute has the potential to escalate" across Northern Ireland.

The stand-off at Drumcree made headlines in the 1990s, with nationalist residents of the Garvaghy Road opposed to the parade passing through the area, leading to violent clashes for several summers and political tension necessitating a major security operation.

The Orange Order has unsuccessfully applied for more than a quarter of a century to complete its 1998 walk along its traditional route.

On Friday, the commission reversed its long-running determination, to the welcome of unionist parties and outrage of nationalist and republican parties.

Delivering her ruling, Ms Smyth said: "The level of mistrust between the residents and the Portadown Orange lodge cannot be overstated.

"It's also clear to me that this particular long-running dispute has the potential to escalate within Northern Ireland."