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Court of Appeal to hear residents' parade challenge over Drumcree dispute

News imageReuters FILE PHOTO: Residents of the Garvaghy Road, a Catholic enclave in the largely Protestant town protest against the Protestant Orange Order's annual Drumcree parade, in Portadown, Northern Ireland, September 28, 2026. REUTERS/Cathal McNaughton/File PhotoReuters
Protesters have maintained a presence on the Garvaghy Road since Sunday - picture taken on 28 September

A challenge to the decision to allow a controversial Orange Order parade to go down a predominantly nationalist road is due to be heard in court later.

The deadlock over the proposed march in Portadown - opposed by residents of the Garvaghy Road - has lasted since last Sunday morning.

The stalemate has reopened what was once the most bitter parading dispute in Northern Ireland, with stand-offs in the mid-to-late 90s accompanied by riots, roadblocks and killings.

The fresh Court of Appeal application argues that the Parades Commission, the organisation that approved the march, had "materially misdirected itself" on the police assessment of the potential for disorder.

News imagePA Images (Left to right) DUP MLA Jonathan Buckley, Nigel Dawson, the district master of the Orange Order in Portadown, and deputy district master Alastair Power. Johnathan has short dark hair, wearing a navy jacket. Nigel has short white hair, wearing a khaki rain jacket with his arms folded. Alastair has a dark beard, wearing a black bobble hat and navy fleece. They are all standing in a circle. A sign for the church car park and shrubs are behind them.PA Images
(Left to right) DUP MLA Jonathan Buckley, Nigel Dawson, the district master of the Orange Order in Portadown, and deputy district master Alastair Power, talk near Drumcree Church on Friday 2 October

The application also said the commission had not given an "accurate representation" of PSNI evidence in its decision.

Monday's hearing is due to begin in Belfast at about 10:30 BST.

On Friday 25 September, the Parades Commission decided that the march could go ahead with restrictions in place.

The residents' appeal will be the latest legal challenge since it was given the go-ahead after three separate legal hearings over the course of 13 hours late on Saturday and into the early hours of Sunday morning.

News imageGetty Images Orangemen gather on a road outside Drumcree Church, while police Land Rovers block the road ahead of them.Getty Images
Orangemen gathered at Drumcree Church on Sunday but were blocked from completing their march

Last Sunday, the parade, from Drumcree Church into Portadown, did not happen due to a large protest on the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road.

Protesters have since remained on the road, although in much smaller numbers, and the Portadown District Orange Lodge has maintained a presence at Drumcree Church, about a mile away.

On Tuesday, lawyers for the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition (GRRC) issued a fresh legal bid to try to prevent the march from going ahead.

News imageGetty Images Breandán Mac Cionnaith of the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition gives an update to residents after the High Court granted a temporary injunction blocking the controversial Orange Order paradeGetty Images
Breandán Mac Cionnaith of the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition speaks to the crowd outside the court house on 26 September

Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Chris Bryant held talks held talks with both sides last week, which ended without agreement.

PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher also discussed the dispute at a public meeting of the Policing Board in Belfast on Thursday, where he said the policing operation has cost about £3m so far.

A police investigation into anyone suspected of breaking the law in relation to the dispute is ongoing.

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