Lawyers for the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition have issued a fresh legal bid to prevent the Drumcree march, as crunch talks finished on Tuesday without a breakthrough.
The fresh application to the Court of Appeal in Belfast argues that the Parades Commission had “materially misdirected itself” on the police assessment of the potential for disorder and had not given an “accurate representation of the evidence received from PSNI” in its decision.
A number of Orange Order members remain at Drumcree Church expecting to be allowed to begin their permitted parade, which would pass along the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown.
However, protesters have maintained a presence at the side of the road, insisting that the parade should not be allowed to proceed.
It is the latest challenge to the march, which 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.
The residents are awaiting confirmation on a time and date for the hearing, which is listed for Friday.
It came as both sides in the ongoing Drumcree parading stalemate were brought in for crunch talks with the Northern Ireland Secretary.
Sir Chris Bryant met with the residents’ coalition as well as representatives for the Orange Order in Portadown who were prevented from marching down Garvaghy Road on Sunday.
The talks ended without a breakthrough on Tuesday evening, and are expected to resume on Wednesday.
Efforts to call of the parade were also brought to Government Buildings in Dublin where Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald and deputy leader Michelle O’Neill, Northern Ireland’s First Minister, met Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris.
Ms O’Neill said police have not contacted her about her controversial attendance at an unlawful protest against the Drumcree parade, adding that she does not expect to be arrested.
She and other senior colleagues were among a large crowd that blockaded the road in the predominantly nationalist Garvaghy Road area on Sunday to prevent the contentious Orange Order Drumcree parade from passing the route.
Under parading laws in Northern Ireland, protests must be notified to, and approved by, the Parades Commission adjudication body.
Police have confirmed the protest was unnotified to the commission and therefore unlawful.
Asked if she believed she was above the law, Ms O’Neill told reporters: “Right is always right, and this community needs our support right now – and I will continue to stand with the Garvaghy Road residents.”
She has also been urged to face questions in the Northern Ireland Assembly over her presence in the march.
At Hillsborough Castle, Garvaghy Road residents have said they will not accept the parade.
Asked what his message to Sir Chris is, representative of the community, Breandán Mac Cionnaith said “reroute the sectarian parade, that’s it”.
“No parade is no parade, that’s it.”
The residents have called for an international mediator to be appointed to resolve the dispute.
A delegation from Portadown Orange Order also arrived at Hillsborough Castle for talks with the Northern Ireland Secretary.
Speaking as his group left the meeting at Hillsborough Castle, Orange Order Portadown District Master Nigel Dawson said: “We have once again had a very positive and constructive meeting with the Secretary of State.”
The group was accompanied by their legal adviser, loyalist activist Jamie Bryson, who said he was there to support the rule of law.
A spokesperson for the Dublin Government said the Taoiseach and Tánaiste emphasised to the Sinn Féin representatives the importance of protecting the gains of the peace process for people across the island, and the responsibility of everyone to contribute positively to finding a way through the current situation.
The spokesperson added: “The Government will continue to work towards that end, and to engage with key representatives from all sides.”
Asked if they received any assurance from the Taoiseach and Tánaiste about pressuring the British government, Ms O’Neill said both men were “acutely aware to the situation”, adding: “They’ve said that they will use their office in terms of engaging with the British government to impress upon them the need to protect the Good Friday Agreement.”
Earlier in the Dáil, Ms McDonald told Mr Martin that the Northern Ireland Secretary could no longer “sit on his hands” as she asked for the Government to impress upon Sir Chris to use his powers to ban the march.
However, the Taoiseach replied: “If we are honest about this, I do not think it is as simple as that.
“I think that one intervention is not going to resolve it.
“People have to stand back and there has to be some collective pathway determined with some degree of mediation.”
As the stand-off in Portadown entered a third day, Ireland’s Foreign Minister Helen McEntee said she believed it was “likely” an international mediator would be appointed to attempt to intervene.
Earlier, Sir Chris told the Labour party conference in Liverpool: “The situation in Drumcree is tense and this Government, like every Labour government, will always go the extra mile for peace.
“That’s precisely what I’ll be doing this afternoon: bringing both sides together, talking to everyone, bridging sectarian divides and giving compromise a chance.
“Because nobody, nobody, nobody wants Northern Ireland to return to the 1990s.
“That’s not going to be easy, as the last few days have shown. It’s really easy to stir up a grievance, much harder to calm it down.
“Which is why I appeal to everyone: believe in Northern Ireland and double down on compromise.”
Orangemen have attempted to begin their parade on a number of occasions, but police have halted them.
Alastair Power, the Orange Order’s deputy district master in Portadown, is among a small group of lodge members who have remained at Drumcree Church.
He said: “We are still at the stalemate from eight o’clock on Sunday morning.
“The police are still giving us an assessment that they cannot police us safely down the Garvaghy Road.
“We have left it with them that we are here and waiting until they can give us safe passage to complete our 1998 parade, which was given to us by the Parades Commission with 35 Orangemen, under really restrictive conditions from the Parades Commission, but we accepted that and we wish to bring our banner back home.”
He added: “The position of the district remains that we still have a live document, the 11/1, which is the parade from the 27th September to bring this district down along its traditional route, via the Garvaghy Road, to complete its parade in Carleton Street.
“That is the position. We have asked the police when they can take that road and bring us down the road safely; we will be here to do that.”
Elsewhere at Stormont, Ms O’Neill was accused by Speaker Edwin Poots on Monday of showing “gross contempt” to the Assembly after she refused to answer an urgent question on her participation in an unlawful protest against the controversial parade.
Returning to the issue at the start of Assembly business on Tuesday, Mr Poots said he had corresponded with the Executive Office about the relisting of the question.
The PSNI has defended its approach and Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson said the use of force to move protesters off the Garvaghy Road risked people getting “seriously hurt”.
The Drumcree parading dispute, which was associated with violent disorder during the Troubles, has been reignited after the Parades Commission granted permission for a limited parade down the Garvaghy Road for the first time in almost 30 years.
At the height of the blockade on Sunday, more than 1,000 people congregated on the road to prevent the parade from the Drumcree Church from passing along the route.
A ruling by the Parades Commission permitting the Orange Order march from Drumcree Church and along the Garvaghy Road was upheld in an “unprecedented” late-night sitting of the High Court in Belfast in the early hours of Sunday.
The Drumcree parade down the Garvaghy Road has been banned since 1998.
The stand-off in the late 1990s led to violent clashes for several summers and political tension necessitated major security operations.
The Orange Order has unsuccessfully applied for more than a quarter of a century to complete its 1998 walk along its traditional route.
On Friday, the commission reversed its long-running determination and granted permission for the parade – a decision welcomed by unionist parties and met with outrage from nationalist and republican parties.
Permission was granted for a parade subject to strict restrictions, including a limit of 35 participants and an 8am start time.
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