High Court quashes Parades Commission Drumcree determination

By Jonathan McCambridge (Press Association)

A decision by the Parades Commission to impose restrictions on the annual Orange Order parade at Drumcree in Portadown has been quashed in the High Court in Belfast.

The legal challenge to the determination, which was launched last month, had been brought by a Portadown Orangeman.

The Parades Commission, which adjudicates on contentious marches, has blocked the order from marching along the Garvaghy Road in Portadown every year since 1998.

In court on Tuesday, John Larkin KC, representing the applicant, said there was consent on behalf of the commission to the quashing of the determination before a full hearing in the judicial review application.

High Court judge Mr Justice McAlinden said he had “no hesitation” in making a ruling to quash this year’s determination.

Referring to an application for costs for the hearings, the judge said: “Public administration must have the confidence of the public and that means that when errors are made, when shortcuts are taken, when sloppy procedures are manifest, those issues come to the public knowledge and appropriate corrections are made within that administrative body to ensure that such behaviour does not occur again.”

The judge ordered the Parades Commission to pay costs.

The hearing was attended by a number of unionist elected representatives including DUP Upper Bann MP Carla Lockhart and TUV leader Jim Allister.

In 1998 and previous years, there was widespread disorder due to tensions around the march along the Garvaghy Road.

Any future parade along the road would require a new application to the Parades Commission.

Portadown Orange Lodge at Drumcree last month. PICTURE: MAL MCCANN