Breandán Mac Cionnaith spoke to reporters outside of court on Monday
Published12 October 2026, 14:36 BST
The Garvaghy Road residents have failed in a bid to challenge the Parades Commission's decision to allow the Drumcree parade to walk down the predominantly nationalist road, the Court of Appeal has ruled.
Judges said their decision was confined to the lawfulness of the decision – it was not deciding whether or not the march should occur.
Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan said the ruling was decided before the secretary of state banned the parade on Friday.
Residents had argued the commission's decision was flawed over how it weighed up the potential for disorder when it approved the parade for the first time since 1998.
In September, the Parades Commission announced that a planned Orange Order parade would be allowed in Portadown.
The commission said the parade should start earlier than the Orange Order wanted and with fewer people, but could go ahead for the first time in 28 years.
On Monday, the Lady Chief Justice found the Parades Commission properly dealt with a police assessment on the potential risk of disorder and gave adequate reasons for its decision.
"This application for leave to appeal has no reasonable prospect of success," she held.
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Earlier at the High Court, an Orange Order challenge to a decision to ban the Drumcree parade was delayed after Northern Ireland's police chief Jon Boutcher was added to the case.
The Portadown Orangemen want to overturn the Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Chris Bryant's intervention on Friday night, which came after he received advice from the chief constable.
'We have prevented the march'
Spokesperson for the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition Breandán Mac Cionnaith said the decision was "very academic", considering Sir Chris has "banned the march in question".
He said that discussions on whether to take further legal action will take place with solicitors "later on".
"The ban is in place, that's what we sought, we have prevented the march and we will be back again to prevent further marches," he told reporters outside court.
He added that there are "questions there about the parades commission" and said they will have to "provide a full explanation" on their decision to allow the march.
Mac Cionnaith also acknowledged there was "continued uncertainty" as the Orange Order would "more than likely" plan other marches along the Garvaghy Road.
He said he was hopeful changes to the commission in the new year would "bring a fresh focus and a fresh view" to procedures.
Loyalist activist Jamie Bryson spoke to reporters outside court alongside TUV MLA Timothy Gaston
Also speaking outside court, loyalist activist Jamie Bryson said the "lawlessness and the lawbreakers have been defeated", adding that "the law is clear".
"The Portadown District had a legal right to walk the Garvaghy Road.
"The objections to it were unarguable as a matter of law.
"They have lost twice in the high court, twice in the court of appeal – how many times do we need to beat them before they will abide by the law?"
"For those 11 residents' groups dug up from the 1990s to threaten parades, go ahead, go ahead, open them all up," Bryson added.
"Because see after the court of appeal decision today, we're going to be walking all of those traditional routes again."
Bryson said the ruling was "humiliating" for the chief constable and the NI Secretary, who he said the Orangemen would be challenging next week over the decision to ban the parade.
What is the Drumcree dispute?
The Drumcree parade dispute began in the mid-1990s and it almost derailed the peace process at the time.
Violence related to the dispute resulted in riots, roadblocks and murders.
When the Orange Order was prevented by police from walking down the route in July 1995 there was a tense stand-off. It was the same for the next three years.
The Orange Order in Portadown were given permission to walk along the Garvaghy Road
The Parades Commission began operating in 1998 to regulate parades and try to defuse tension around marches.
Its decision not to allow a march down the Garvaghy Road that summer has been challenged by the order for the past three decades.
Last month the Parades Commission decided that the march could go ahead on 27 September with restrictions in place after its original decision to stop the march was overturned in court.
That morning, up to 1,000 people – including nationalist politicians – blocked the road, preventing Orangemen marching from Drumcree Church a mile to the west.
Since then there have been repeated attempts by the Orange Order to walk the route, but they have been stopped by police.
Residents maintained a constant presence on the Garvaghy Road, but that ended on Friday when the NI Secretary Sir Chris Bryant banned the parade following advice from the PSNI chief constable.
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