Garvaghy Road residents fail in bid to challenge Drumcree decision

The Garvaghy Road residents have failed in a bid to challenge the Parades Commission's decision to allow the Drumcree parade to walk down the predominantly nationalist road, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

Judges said their decision was confined to the lawfulness of the decision - it was not deciding whether or not the march should occur.

Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan said the ruling was decided before the secretary of state banned the parade on Friday.

Residents had argued the commission's decision was flawed over how it weighed up the potential for disorder.

However, the court dismissed the appeal to challenge the determination.

In September, the Parades Commission announced that a planned Orange Order parade would be allowed in Portadown.

The commission said the parade should start earlier than the Orange Order wanted and with fewer people, but could go ahead for the first time in 28 years.

On Monday, the Lady Chief Justice found the Parades Commission properly dealt with a police assessment on the potential risk of disorder and gave adequate reasons for its decision.

"This application for leave to appeal has no reasonable prospect of success," she held.

The Drumcree parade dispute began in the mid-1990s and it almost derailed the peace process at the time.

Violence related to the dispute resulted in riots, roadblocks and murders.

When the Orange Order was prevented by police from walking down the route in July 1995 there was a tense stand-off. It was the same for the next three years.

The Parades Commission began operating in 1998 to regulate parades and try to defuse tension around marches.

Its decision not to allow a march down the Garvaghy Road that summer has been challenged by the order for the past three decades.

Last month the Parades Commission decided that the march could go ahead on 27 September with restrictions in place after its original decision to stop the march was overturned in court.

That morning, up to 1,000 people - including nationalist politicians - blocked the road, preventing Orangemen marching from Drumcree Church a mile to the west.

Since then there have been repeated attempts by the Orange Order to walk the route, but they have been stopped by police.

Residents maintained a constant presence on the Garvaghy Road, but that ended on Friday when the NI Secretary Sir Chris Bryant banned the parade following advice from the PSNI chief constable.