Garvaghy Road residents launch fresh legal bid to stop Drumcree parade

Breandan Mac Cionnaith with members of the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition, arriving at Hillsborough Castle for a meeting with  Northern Ireland secretary Chris Bryant. Picture: Liam McBurney/PA

Lawyers for the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition have issued a fresh legal bid to prevent the Drumcree march, as crunch talks finished on Tuesday without a breakthrough.

The fresh application to the Court of Appeal in Belfast argues that the Parades Commission had “materially misdirected itself” on the police assessment of the potential for disorder and had not given an “accurate representation of the evidence received from PSNI” in its decision.

A number of Orange Order members remain at Drumcree Church expecting to be allowed to begin their permitted parade, which would pass along the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown.

However, protesters have maintained a presence at the side of the road, insisting that the parade should not be allowed to proceed.

It is the latest challenge to the march, which was given the go-ahead after three separate legal hearings over the course of 13 hours late on Saturday and into the early hours of Sunday morning.

The residents are awaiting confirmation on a time and date for the hearing, which is listed for Friday.

It came as both sides in the ongoing Drumcree parading stalemate were brought in for crunch talks with the Northern Ireland secretary.

Chris Bryant met with the residents’ coalition as well as representatives for the Orange Order in Portadown who were prevented from marching down Garvaghy Road on Sunday.

The talks ended without a breakthrough on Tuesday evening, and are expected to resume on Wednesday.

'Simply unthinkable'

Meanwhile Taoiseach Micheál Martin told the Dáil that any return to the division of the past is “simply unthinkable”.

He downplayed suggestions that direct intervention by the Northern Ireland secretary could resolve the dispute. “If we are honest, I do not think it is as simple as that. One intervention is not going to resolve it,” said Mr Martin.

“People have to stand back and there has to be some collective pathway determined with some degree of mediation.”

Mr Martin told the Dáil that he “supports the idea” of appointing an independent international figure to play a role in mediation and negotiation.

He said Ireland had made significant progress in advancing reconciliation under the Good Friday Agreement over the past three decades. “A return to the divisions of the past is simply unthinkable,” he said.

Labour leader Ivana Bacik described the decision to granting permission for the Drumcree parade as “reckless, irresponsible, and wrong”.

“It is a failure of Northern Ireland’s political system that the situation remains so tense and volatile today. Clearly, residents may well feel that the institutions set up to protect peace have abandoned them. So, we must not abandon them,” she said.

Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald and deputy leader Michelle O'Neill speaking to reporters before meeting Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris at Government Buildings. Picture: Cillian Sherlock/PA Wire

Speaking after meeting Mr Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris, Northern Ireland first minister Michelle O’Neill said Sinn Féin had stressed the need for Mr Bryant to intervene.

Ms O’Neill said: “A small minority of people want to railroad their rights and intimidate this community by marching down through them with a triumphalist march that actually says to them, ‘Do you know what? You’re second-class citizens’.

“But this community are not second-class citizens, and we defend their right to live free from fear and intimidation.”

Ms O’Neill said issues at the Garvaghy Road “go to the heart of the peace process itself” and that “we can’t allow people and a small minority of people to bring us back”.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said decisive action was needed.

“This is not a time for any political leaders to tread water. We need decisive action. This now needs to be nipped in the bud, and this needs to be stopped because this is madness. This is destructive at a level that really, really worries us.”

The Drumcree parade down the Garvaghy Road has been banned since 1998 following violent clashes.

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 and granted permission for the parade.