{"id":646170,"date":"2026-10-06T05:56:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T05:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/646170\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T05:56:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T05:56:09","slug":"judgment-reserved-in-legal-challenge-to-orange-order-parade-on-garvaghy-road-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/646170\/","title":{"rendered":"Judgment reserved in legal challenge to Orange Order parade on Garvaghy Road \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Belfast court hopes to issue its decision on an appeal against the controversial Orange parade<\/a> at Drumcree<\/a> \u201cwithin a swift enough time frame\u201d following a highly anticipated hearing. <\/p>\n

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 standoff in Portadown<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Three senior judges at the Court of Appeal in Belfast<\/a> heard submissions on Monday from barristers representing the Garvaghy Road Residents\u2019 Coalition and the Parades Commission<\/a>. <\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

They were not able to proceed after the road was blocked by residents, and a standoff <\/a>is continuing in the area with protesters maintaining a presence. <\/p>\n

Denise Kiley, appearing for the residents, argued the Parades Commission had failed to \u201cproperly weigh\u201d information from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI<\/a>) around the potential for disorder.<\/p>\n

She said it \u201cdidn\u2019t properly understand the police assessment\u201d, and therefore reached an \u201cirrational conclusion\u201d in permitting it to go ahead.<\/p>\n

The barrister for the Parades Commission, Tony McGleenan, said the body was \u201cfully briefed\u201d by police, including \u201cabout the police resource and their ability to contain any disorder or reaction that occurred\u201d. <\/p>\n

He said the suggestion it had made a legal error \u201cdoesn\u2019t bear scrutiny\u201d and that just because people disagree with the outcome \u201cdoesn\u2019t make it irrational\u201d.<\/p>\n

Richard McConkey, who represents a member of the Orange Order from Portadown, said: \u201cOur position is obviously that the appeal should be dismissed.\u201d <\/p>\n

At the conclusion of several hours of proceedings on Monday, Chief Justice Siobhan Keegan told the court she and her fellow judges \u201cwill reserve our decision\u201d. She said it would \u201chopefully\u201d be delivered \u201cwithin a swift enough time frame\u201d but she was unable to give a date.<\/p>\n

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 Breand\u00e1n Mac Cionnaith and other Garvaghy Road residents seated behind. <\/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

Speaking to reporters after the conclusion of the hearing, Bryson \u2013 who is providing legal representation to the Portadown District Orange Lodge \u2013 said they would \u201cabide by the law\u201d.<\/p>\n

He condemned the \u201cmobs\u201d who, he said, had resulted in Lockhart requiring security protection. \u201cThe contrast we have here is the law and the mob, and we stand on the side of the law,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Lockhart said it was \u201ca sad reflection on society when you stand outside court, and you are abused, threatened\u201d and the Orangemen \u201cdeserve the right to fulfil their legal determination to walk the Garvaghy Road\u201d.<\/p>\n

Also addressing reporters afterwards, Mac Cionnaith said their legal team was \u201cvery clear on what the situation was in relation to the parade, and I don\u2019t think we have anything to regret so far. I am not going to prejudge the outcome\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Drumcree consequences will be profound. That\u2019s why it\u2019s a line in the sand for nationalistsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

In court, Kiley described the Drumcree march as \u201cone of the most polarising parades in the history of Northern Ireland<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

She said it was not accepted that the Parades Commission\u2019s determination remained live \u2013 \u201cwe say that it is spent because the date and time within has passed\u201d \u2013 but this did not form part of Monday\u2019s case.<\/p>\n

Outlining a number of grounds for the appeal, she said there was a \u201cpublic interest\u201d in ensuring the Parades Commission \u201ccomes to correct and lawful determinations\u201d.<\/p>\n

The barrister said it had a \u201cduty\u201d to explain its decision but had failed to do so, arguing that \u201cwhere a decision has consistently been made on one basis for 28 years, then a change cries out for explanation\u201d.<\/p>\n

She also argued the body had failed to take into account the potential for the parade to trigger \u201cwider disorder\u201d.<\/p>\n

McGleenan told the court the commission\u2019s determination was a \u201cdetailed 31-paragraph written analysis\u201d which \u201chas to be read in its totality\u201d.<\/p>\n

Additional reporting \u2013 PA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Belfast court hopes to issue its decision on an appeal against the controversial Orange parade at Drumcree…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646171,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48512,270806,42,272536,43,2443,18254,171620,21754,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-646170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-armagh","tag-drumcree","tag-headlines","tag-jamie-bryson","tag-news","tag-northern-ireland","tag-orange-order","tag-parades-commission","tag-police-service-of-northern-ireland-psni","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646170","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=646170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}