Orange Order legal challenge to Drumcree parade ban to be heard next week

A legal challenge to the intervention by the Northern Secretary that banned the controversial Orange Order parade at Drumcree has been adjourned at the High Court in Belfast. During a brief hearing on Monday morning, the court was told that the case will proceed on October 19th. It means the judge will consider whether to grant leave for a judicial review and, if permission is given, the merits of the case during the same session.The court heard there had been an application on Sunday to widen the case to include Police Service of Northern Ireland chief constable Jon Boutcher as a respondent, and to challenge his request to the Northern Secretary to review the permission for the march to proceed. READ MOREThe Portadown District of the Orange Order applied for leave to take a judicial review of Friday night’s decision by Chris Bryant to intervene and revoke permission for the parade. It followed a two-week stand-off between members of the Portadown District of the Orange Order and nationalist residents on the Garvaghy Road. The march on September 27th was blocked by residents and did not go ahead. In a statement on Friday night, the Northern Secretary said he had been advised by the PSNI chief constable that the march could not proceed without a “major” police intervention, which “would carry an unacceptable risk of serious injury, disorder and a wider contagion effect across Northern Ireland” and he had therefore decided to ban the march “in the interests of wider public interest and safety”.A separate legal judgment, on a challenge taken by the residents to the Parades Commission’s decision to allow the march to proceed, is due to be delivered at the Court of Appeal in Belfast on Monday afternoon.[ ‘Let them live in peace’: Protestants and Catholics alike express relief in DrumcreeOpens in new window ]Meanwhile, First Minister Michelle O’Neill and other Sinn Féin Ministers are facing a motion of no confidence brought by unionist parties in the Stormont Assembly over their participation in protests in support of the Garvaghy Road residents. O’Neill is among a number of MLAs who have received letters from the PSNI inviting them to a voluntary interview as part of the police investigation into the protests. The motions contend they “no longer enjoy the confidence of the Assembly” after they allegedly “participated in the unlawful protest” and claim they “failed to observe their pledge of office”.O’Neill has repeatedly defended her participation in the protests, saying last week that she would “continue to stand with the Garvaghy Road residents” because “it is always right to stand up for what is right and there can be no going back”.The motions – which carry the sanction of excluding a Minister from holding office for 12 months – are not expected to pass, as this would require cross-community support in the Assembly.[ Siobhán Fenton: Sinn Féin might have an ulterior motive for its actions at DrumcreeOpens in new window ]At a press conference on Monday morning, Traditional Unionist Voice leader Jim Allister, called on Boutcher to resign, claiming the PSNI chief had “failed to uphold the rule of law”.