Court rejects residents’ appeal over Drumcree parade route

The Court of Appeal has refused Garvaghy Road residents permission to appeal against the Parades Commission’s approval of an Orange Order parade route through their neighbourhood, finding their challenge had no reasonable prospect of success. The judges said they were not ruling on the merits of the Commission’s decision. The ruling, delivered on October 12, concerns the Commission’s approval of the Drumcree parade route in Portadown for the first time since 1998. The decision allowed the planned September 27 procession to pass along Garvaghy Road, subject to conditions including an earlier start and limits on participants. Residents had argued that the Commission mishandled the police assessment of disorder risks, failed to give adequate reasons and did not properly weigh their rights. The Court of Appeal upheld an earlier High Court rejection of the challenge. Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan said the Commission had understood the police assessment and that the judges’ role was to decide the legal appeal, not assess the decision’s merits. The approved route was subsequently banned by Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Bryant on Friday night.