Orange Order submits new 'limited' Drumcree parade plans

- Published

The Orange Order has announced plans for a "limited" parade at Drumcree, one of the most contentious parade routes in Northern Ireland.

It said the plans had been scaled back and it hoped the parade would be allowed along the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road. Instead of 400 people and two bands taking part, only 60 members would march along the road in Portadown in silence on Sunday 27 September.

The submission comes after a court case saw the Parades Commission's most recent determination on Drumcree overturned.

At a press conference, the Orange Order said members of the Parades Commission had "no credibility" to adjudicate on their application and should resign.

The commission had banned this year's parade from entering the Garvaghy Road - a move which reflected every decision it has made since 1998.

In 1998, the Parades Commission ruled that the Orange Order should not march down the road on the end leg of its annual march after a service at Drumcree Church.

It was a move that ultimately led to a decades-long parading dispute, sparking some of the most serious public disorder in Northern Ireland's history.

Stand-offs continued in subsequent years as members of the Order walked to police barricades in protest at the restrictions. Protests were also held by residents living along the Garvaghy Road.

The commission, which adjudicates on contentious parades in Northern Ireland, was heavily criticised by unionist politicians and the Orange Order after last month's court case.

High Court Judge Mr Justice McAlinden referred to "errors", "short cuts" and "sloppy procedures" in the approach of the commission to making its determination.

Portadown District Master Nigel Dawson said they had "lodged a notification to complete our return church parade, which we have been unlawfully and unjustly denied since 1998, and to bring our bannerette home to Carleton Street Orange Hall for the first time in just under 30 years".

He said the current Parades Commission should not be making the final determination on the submission, as a result of the recent court case.

"That this commission remains in office, particularly the chair, is an affront to good public administration and undermines the authority of the secretary of state, who has shown himself impotent in the face of belligerent and arrogant commission," he said.

"Let us be very clear: they have no credibility, they have no legitimacy and they have no lawful right to play any role in this determination."

He added that there was no threat of violence or disruption from "any section of our community" regardless of the outcome of the application.

Portadown deputy district master Alistair Power said: "This limited parade is proportionate, inoffensive and wholly reasonable.

After the court case, there were calls for the resignation of the commissioners, including the chair, Prof Evelyn Collins. One commissioner Billy Gamble, who had faced the most public criticism, resigned.

The five-member Parades Commission now has 24 days to make a decision.

They will consult widely before announcing their verdict.

The commissioners' jobs are part-time but their deliberations will be long and intensive.

The deadline for a decision is Sunday 27 September but it is likely to come a few days beforehand.

Anyone who disagrees with their judgement has the right to seek a judicial review of the decision.

Jim Allister, leader of the Traditional Unionist Voice, said the arrangements for the planned parade were "very modest, very generous, very neighbourly".

Democratic Unionist MP Carla Lockhart, her party colleague Jonathan Buckley and loyalist activist Jamie Bryson, who is one of the order's legal advisers, were also present at the conference.

Speaking to Good Morning Ulster, leader of the opposition, Matthew O'Toole said the submission was an attempt to "revive a long dormant dispute over a parade".

"That is deeply irresponsible and concerning not just for the community in Portadown but for most people in Northern Ireland who want to have a shared peaceful and respectful future, this is an example of division from the past," he said.

"I don't think this is an example of someone trying to find a mediated or shared approach I think it's about trying to create divisions and spectacle."