Judge says legal appeal on Drumcree parade ban not an 'emergency' case

A High Court judge says a legal appeal by Orangemen following the secretary of state's decision to ban the Drumcree parade is not an emergency case.

Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Chris Bryant banned the contentious Orange Order parade at Drumcree on Friday saying the decision "was in the best interests of peace".

Orangemen in Portadown went to the High Court on Saturday afternoon to seek a judicial review of that decision.

Sir Chris Bryant said he received advice from the PSNI chief constable that allowing the procession to go ahead could lead to serious injury, disorder and wider unrest.

• What is the Garvaghy Road dispute all about?

The decision by Sir Chris came after an agreement could not be reached between the Portadown District Lodge and the Garvaghy Road residents over whether the march would be allowed down the predominantly nationalist road.

In response, Orangemen in Portadown lodged an application for leave for a judicial review to appeal the decision.

Lady Justice McBride told the court on Saturday: "This is an important case, and I do believe there is some urgency, but it's not an emergency."

The judge also questioned the need for the case to proceed outside normal court hours.

"I can't fully understand why this case needs to be heard today in terms of (any) irredeemable prejudice," she stated.

"They (the Orange Order) had the right to walk but they couldn't exercise it, now the right has been taken away.

"In practical terms they are in exactly the same position."

She told the court the information she received on the matter was very basic and there was information that was outstanding that needed to be included.

"There is probably a lot more material that needs to be considered in this challenge, that is not before me today," she added.

The judge said if the secretary of state acted lawfullythat decision will stand but added "there are a lot of interwoven moving parts".

Lady Justice McBride said she wanted to "thank everyone for their time", but wanted to reiterate to counsel, that they are left in no doubt "the case had to be a matter of life and death, when brought on a Saturday afternoon".

She adjourned the case until Monday for a full hearing.

Speaking outside the court, loyalist activist Jamie Bryson, who has acted as a legal adviser for Portadown District Lodge, welcomed the judge recognising it as an "important case", adding that "the fight goes on".

"We also have a Court of Appeal judgement due at 14:00 BST on Monday," he said.

"One might question why the chief constable and the secretary of state couldn't just wait to see what the Court of Appeal said on Monday.

"Because we all know if the Court of Appeal on Monday uphold Mr Justice Humphreys and says the objections to this determination were unarguable, then the political consequences, the legal consequences of that, are enormous for the secretary of state and the chief constable.

"If it turns out next week that the chief constable has shown to have sought to bypass the Court of Appeal process in order to circumvent that and brought the secretary of state along with him, then that's obviously a very serious matter indeed.

"The Portadown District fought this as a legal question and the fight goes on and they'll be back in this building for two cases on Monday - one in the High Court and one in the Court of Appeal."