{"id":641949,"date":"2026-10-01T20:10:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T20:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/641949\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T20:10:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T20:10:10","slug":"drumcree-high-court-appeal-postponed-as-talks-on-impasse-continue-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/641949\/","title":{"rendered":"Drumcree High Court appeal postponed as talks on impasse continue \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Belfast High Court appeal by the Garvaghy Road Residents\u2019 Coalition to stop the Orange Order<\/a> march in Drumcree has been put back to Monday to facilitate ongoing talks. <\/p>\n

The hearing had been due to take place on Friday. The postponement comes as residents travelled to Hillsborough Castle on Thursday night for talks with Northern Secretary Chris Bryant in an attempt to break the deadlock. <\/p>\n

The Drumcree policing operation has cost about \u00a33 million (\u20ac3.5 million) so far, Police Service of Northern Ireland<\/a> (PSNI) chief constable Jon Boutcher<\/a> said earlier on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Addressing the Northern Ireland Policing Board in Belfast, Boutcher also warned that the consequences of forcing an Orange Order march down the Garvaghy Road in Portadown, Co Armagh, \u201ccould be catastrophic\u201d for Northern Ireland<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The PSNI is the \u201cshock absorber\u201d when society fractures, he told members of the oversight body. <\/p>\n

As the standoff enters its fifth day, talks aimed at resolving the stalemate were continuing on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Central to the residents\u2019 case at the Court of Appeal is a PSNI submission to the Parades Commission<\/a> before the body determined last Friday the march could proceed. <\/p>\n

A meeting between residents and Bryant, who has been involved in discussions with the Orange Order and Garvaghy Road residents since Monday, was due to take place on Thursday night. <\/p>\n

A delegation, led by the group\u2019s spokesman Breand\u00e1n Mac Cionnaith and solicitor Darragh Mackin left Portadown to travel to Hillsborough Castle at 5.15pm, but returned a short time later with the meeting understood to have been rescheduled for 8pm. Mac Cionnaith said the group\u2019s position had not changed.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0From local row to peace-process shambles: How the Drumcree standoff developedOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

On his return, he met the Dundalk folk band The Mary Wallopers, who performed on Garvaghy Road on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Addressing supporters before leaving for the initial meeting, Mac Cionnaith said they had only been informed a short while ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what time we\u2019ll get back from there yet tonight, it might be possible for us to brief you at that time, but it could be 10pm, it could be 12 o\u2019clock.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Breand\u00e1n Mac Cionnaith profile: The ex-IRA man who Tony Blair said \u2018took unreasonableness to an art form\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter what you hear, our position remains the same. There is no change in our position so hopefully we\u2019ll get tonight over and there isn\u2019t far to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

During Thursday\u2019s Policing Board meeting, Boutcher said there will be \u201cconsequences\u201d for those who blocked the Garvaghy Road last Sunday.<\/p>\n

Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O\u2019Neill and Sinn F\u00e9in president Mary Lou McDonald were among those who stood with thousands of protesters before the planned parade.<\/p>\n

Investigations into lawbreaking are \u201cwell under way\u201d and will be \u201cexpedited\u201d, Boutcher told board members.<\/p>\n

Despite the \u201cchallenges\u201d of the security operation, there has been no disorder in what he described as a \u201cwickedly difficult\u201d situation for officers.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one\u2019s been injured … We\u2019ve kept things calm, and we\u2019ve created a space to try to resolve this,\u201d Boutcher added.<\/p>\n

The visible policing presence has since reduced in Portadown but the situation remained \u201cchallenging and complex\u201d, members were told.<\/p>\n

Boutcher said the cost of the policing operation has been \u00a33 million so far, but warned of the consequences and cost \u201cif they get it wrong\u201d.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Portadown Orange Order members called for the Chief Constable to resign over his handling of the standoff.<\/p>\n

Boutcher said his aim is to facilitate the Parades Commission ruling \u201cbut in a proportionate and safe way\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"MembersMembers of the Orange Order are blocked by PSNI officers from marching down the Garvaghy Road in Portadown on Sunday. Photograph: Peter Morrison\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not back in 1997. We are not expected, and nor will we, force members of the Orange Order \u2013 many of whom are of a certain age \u2013 through a hostile crowd, which will be unsafe and will be disproportionate, and where the wider consequences for Northern Ireland could be catastrophic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe parade could not safely be facilitated on Sunday 27th of September, because of an unnotified protest that blocked the route. Officers repeatedly engaged with those involved and issued warnings.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe considered a range of options, but assessed that the use of force required to clear the road risked serious harm and an escalation into disorder. That would not have been proportionate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe determination does not mean that the PSNI will move down the Garvaghy Road with force.\u201d<\/p>\n

The policing board is also investigating whether Sinn F\u00e9in board member Deirdre Hargey has breached the board\u2019s code of conduct by allegedly taking part in a protest on the Garvaghy Road. The board\u2019s chairman, Brendan Mullan, said that, following complaints, he has instigated proceedings to investigate the matter.<\/p>\n

Jamie Bryson<\/a>, a legal adviser for Portadown\u2019s Orangemen, on Wednesday night said they were \u201cnot doing any deal\u201d surrounding their contentious plan to march down Garvaghy Road. DUP MP Carla Lockhart said Orangemen would not accept any deal on the Drumcree dispute that saw them \u201cwalk away\u201d from their right to parade down the Garvaghy Road.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Who is Jamie Bryson, the unelected loyalist standing \u2018front, back and centre\u2019 at Drumcree?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The standoff was raised in the D\u00e1il on Thursday, where Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s David Cullinane warned that the controversy could \u201cplace at risk the accommodations that have developed around Orange Order marches across the North\u201d.<\/p>\n

T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris said \u201cthis isn\u2019t simply a green versus orange issue. It\u2019s actually an issue between whether people want to go forwards or backwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier, Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee said \u201clegally, the situation is that the Government has no remit or role in parading\u201d. She said she was \u201cvery conscious of that\u201d but had engaged with Bryant and others to try to find a solution.<\/p>\n

Earlier, at the launch of Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s alternative budget, McDonald wished the continuing talks \u201cfair speed and fair wind\u201d. She said the \u201canswer to this is to make absolutely clear that there will be no Orange march on the Garvaghy Road. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf the talks can arrive at that, that\u2019s great\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Belfast High Court appeal by the Garvaghy Road Residents\u2019 Coalition to stop the Orange Order march in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641950,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48512,73902,26189,61,60,272536,140069,43,2443,18254,171620,21754],"class_list":["post-641949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-armagh","tag-chris-bryant","tag-democratic-unionist-party","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jamie-bryson","tag-jon-boutcher","tag-news","tag-northern-ireland","tag-orange-order","tag-parades-commission","tag-police-service-of-northern-ireland-psni"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}