Judgment reserved in legal challenge to Orange Order parade on Garvaghy Road

A Belfast court hopes to issue its decision on an appeal against the controversial Orange parade at Drumcree “within a swift enough time frame” following a highly anticipated hearing. However, following proceedings on Monday, the Court of Appeal was unable to give a specific date for its ruling over the dispute at the centre of the ongoing stand-off in Portadown. Three senior judges at the Court of Appeal in Belfast heard submissions on Monday from barristers representing the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition and the Parades Commission. The residents are challenging an earlier High Court decision to refuse leave to apply for a judicial review of the determination by the commission to permit the Orange Order to parade from Drumcree church along the Garvaghy Road on September 27th. READ MOREThey were not able to proceed after the road was blocked by residents, and a stand-off is continuing in the area with protesters maintaining a presence. Denise Kiley, appearing for the residents, argued the Parades Commission had failed to “properly weigh” information from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) around the potential for disorder.She said it “didn’t properly understand the police assessment”, and therefore reached an “irrational conclusion” in permitting it to go ahead.The barrister for the Parades Commission, Tony McGleenan, said the body was “fully briefed” by police, including “about the police resource and their ability to contain any disorder or reaction that occurred”. He said the suggestion it had made a legal error “doesn’t bear scrutiny” and that just because people disagree with the outcome “doesn’t make it irrational”.Richard McConkey, who represents a member of the Orange Order from Portadown, said: “Our position is obviously that the appeal should be dismissed.” At the conclusion of several hours of proceedings on Monday, Chief Justice Siobhan Keegan told the court she and her fellow judges “will reserve our decision”. She said it would “hopefully” be delivered “within a swift enough time frame” but she was unable to give a date.Inside the Court of Appeal, the public gallery was full, with DUP MP Carla Lockhart sitting beside loyalist activist Jamie Bryson in the front row, and Breandán Mac Cionnaith and other Garvaghy Road residents seated behind. [ Breandán Mac Cionnaith profile: The ex-IRA man who Tony Blair said ‘took unreasonableness to an art form’Opens in new window ]Speaking to reporters after the conclusion of the hearing, Bryson – who is providing legal representation to the Portadown District Orange Lodge – said they would “abide by the law”.He condemned the “mobs” who, he said, had resulted in Lockhart requiring security protection. “The contrast we have here is the law and the mob, and we stand on the side of the law,” he said.Lockhart said it was “a sad reflection on society when you stand outside court, and you are abused, threatened” and the Orangemen “deserve the right to fulfil their legal determination to walk the Garvaghy Road”.Also addressing reporters afterwards, Mac Cionnaith said their legal team was “very clear on what the situation was in relation to the parade, and I don’t think we have anything to regret so far. I am not going to prejudge the outcome”.[ Drumcree consequences will be profound. That’s why it’s a line in the sand for nationalistsOpens in new window ]In court, Kiley described the Drumcree march as “one of the most polarising parades in the history of Northern Ireland”.She said it was not accepted that the Parades Commission’s determination remained live – “we say that it is spent because the date and time within has passed” – but this did not form part of Monday’s case.Outlining a number of grounds for the appeal, she said there was a “public interest” in ensuring the Parades Commission “comes to correct and lawful determinations”.The barrister said it had a “duty” to explain its decision but had failed to do so, arguing that “where a decision has consistently been made on one basis for 28 years, then a change cries out for explanation”.She also argued the body had failed to take into account the potential for the parade to trigger “wider disorder”.McGleenan told the court the commission’s determination was a “detailed 31-paragraph written analysis” which “has to be read in its totality”.Additional reporting – PA.