The Drumcree march dispute remains unresolved as Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Chris Bryant prepares for further talks with community leaders on Wednesday. The latest discussions follow a fresh legal challenge by lawyers representing the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition, who are seeking to prevent the controversial Orange Order parade from proceeding.
Members of the Orange Order are still waiting to begin their permitted parade, which was due to take place on Sunday and pass along the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown. The residents’ latest appeal is another legal challenge after the march was approved following three separate hearings lasting 13 hours from late Saturday into the early hours of Sunday.
The legal dispute has unfolded alongside a continuing protest at the Garvaghy Road. A group of protesters remains at the location, while members of the Orange Order have continued to gather at nearby Drumcree Church as the stand-off continues.
For the first time since the dispute began, Orange Order members left Drumcree Church overnight. However, Portadown Deputy District Master Alastair Power returned on Wednesday morning and said other members would also remain at the church during the day.
There was another attempt to start the parade at 22:10 BST on Tuesday. Power, accompanied by Democratic Unionist Party MP Carla Lockhart, asked police whether they could facilitate the march, but officers said they could not.
Drumcree March Dispute Has Long History
The Drumcree march has a long and contentious history in Northern Ireland. In the 1990s, the dispute over the route contributed to some of the most serious disorder in the region’s history, while the Orange Order has been prevented from completing the route since 1998.
Until this year, the Orange Order had repeatedly been refused permission by the Parades Commission to complete the route. The commission was established to adjudicate disputes over contentious parades.
The Orange Order is a Protestant pro-British organisation, while the Garvaghy Road area is largely Catholic and predominantly inhabited by pro-Irish nationalists. The competing positions of the two communities have made the route one of the most sensitive parade disputes in Northern Ireland.
Garvaghy Road Talks Continue
Sir Chris Bryant held talks with both the Orange Order and representatives of the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition at Hillsborough Castle on Tuesday. The discussions ended without a breakthrough, with further talks planned as efforts continue to address the dispute.
Before the meeting, residents’ representative Breandán Mac Cionnaith said their position was clear: “reroute the sectarian parade, that’s it”. After a separate meeting with the secretary of state, Portadown District Master Nigel Dawson described the discussions as “positive and constructive”.
Hundreds of people later gathered beside St John the Baptist Church on the Garvaghy Road to hear an update on the talks. Mac Cionnaith said the only person the residents had yet to meet was PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher, and questioned whether such a meeting would take place.
At a rally in Portadown, Dawson told hundreds of supporters that unionist leaders needed to maintain pressure on the secretary of state and the chief constable. He also said the law must be “respected and applied”.
Dawson argued that the chief constable was responsible for ensuring that the law was followed and said police should facilitate the Orange Order’s return to Carleton Street Orange Hall via the Garvaghy Road. His comments reflected the Orange Order’s position that the parade has a legal basis following the recent court proceedings.
The fresh legal challenge by the residents adds another layer to the Drumcree march dispute. The new case is listed for Friday, while talks involving the Northern Ireland secretary are expected to continue as both sides remain at an impasse. Sinn Féin has also called on the Irish government to intervene in the dispute.