Talks on Drumcree parading dispute end without agreement

Agreement has not been reached on a resolution to the Drumcree parade dispute, Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Chris Bryant has said.

Members of Portadown Orange Order and the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition (GRRC) met Sir Chris at Hillsborough Castle for further talks on Thursday night.

Speaking afterwards, Bryant told reporters: "I think this is the end of these conversations. We haven't come to a settled agreement, and it's a shame, but my door remains open."

A fresh legal bid issued by lawyers for the residents to try to prevent the march from going ahead was due to be heard on Friday - but has been postponed until Monday.

Regarding the fresh legal bid by GRRC the secretary of state said: "We'll have to see how that plays out".

He added that "the law, in the end, is the law" and he would "urge everybody to cooperate with the police".

The chairman of the GRRC said there had been no "meeting of minds" adding that the current process is "done".

Breándan Mac Cionnaith was speaking after more than two hours of talks hosted by the secretary of state.

Asked if the talks had run their course he replied: "For the time being, yes."

He added: "They may want to re-embark upon another process at some stage, but the current process is done."

When asked if the Garvaghy Road would be blocked if Monday's legal appeal failed, Mac Cionnaith said: "That's not my decision. As we have pointed out, there's 4,000 people in our community signed a petition.

"Those 4,000 people deserve to have their voice heard, and we'll see what goes on that."

Speaking after the talks broke up Portadown District Master Nigel Dawson said: "Tonight remains as it has been: that we are in possession of a positive determination issued by the Parades Commission.

"It went through the Court of Appeal and the High Court sat on it and has decided that we have the right to walk down the Garvaghy Road back to Carleton Street Orange Hall, and I would now call on the secretary of state to apply the law."

Loyalist activist Jamie Bryson, who has been acting as the district's legal adviser, said: "There's a court case now taking place on Monday.

"Those who have broken the law are now going back to the Court of Appeal to ask the Court of Appeal to justify their breaking of the law.

"We'll see what happens – that's an interesting argument, but that will take place on Monday."

The Orange Order had been due to parade on Sunday but the march did not take place due to a large protest on the mainly-nationalist Garvaghy Road.

Protesters have remained on the Garvaghy Road, although in much smaller numbers, and the Orange Order has maintained a presence at Drumcree Church, about a mile away.

Talks aimed at breaking the deadlock have been talking place since Monday with the secretary of state.

Both parties were given a document during separate meetings at Hillsborough Castle on Wednesday.

Dawson said they were shown a discussion document but stressed it was "not a proposal" while Mac Cionnaith said his group would "agree to it, if the Orange Order did".

It is understood that both parties on Wednesday signed a confidentiality agreement after being presented with the document.

On Thursday, The Nolan Show revealed details of the proposals that were presented to both sides in the dispute.

BBC News NI understands that it said the Orange Order had the legal right to walk along the Garvaghy Road; that the residents would accept that legal entitlement and publicly accept that it was wrong to block the Orange Order from walking down the Garvaghy Road - but in return the Orange Order would choose not to walk down the road.

Meanwhile, Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Chief Constable Jon Boutcher discussed the dispute at a public meeting of the Policing Board in Belfast on Thursday where he said the policing operation over the dispute has cost about £3m so far.

He described the situation as "challenging" - but said that despite "very significant tensions" there had been no violence.

The consequences of police forcing an Orange Order march down the Garvaghy Road "could be catastrophic" for Northern Ireland, Boutcher added.

During the meeting, it also emerged that the Policing Board has launched a code-of-conduct investigation into one of its members, Sinn Féin's Deirdre Hargey.

She was pictured taking part in an unlawful protest against the march on the Garvaghy Road on Sunday.

Sinn Féin First Minister Michelle O'Neill has been accused by the DUP of breaking the law by taking part in protest on Sunday.

In response, O'Neill said that if she was investigated then "so be it - that's the chief constable's job".

The Sinn Féin deputy leader returned to the Garvaghy Road on Wednesday to give further support to protesters.

The Orange Order, the most prominent of the loyal orders associated with Protestants in Northern Ireland, holds thousands of parades every year and the vast majority pass off without incident.

However, many Catholics see the marches as sectarian and object to them passing through, or close to, mainly Catholic or nationalist areas.

The Garvaghy Road had been part of the Drumcree parade route but by the mid 1990s nationalist residents protested against it.

Drumcree was one of Northern Ireland's most serious parading disputes, when stand-offs over attempts by the Orange Order to march along the Garvaghy Road were accompanied by riots, roadblocks and killings.

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.

In 1998, the newly-established Parades Commission ruled that the Orange Order should not march down the road - a decision that was upheld for the past 28 years.

The row re-emerged last month after a court case in which a ruling by the Parades Commission was overturned, and a fresh application to parade was lodged.

Last Friday, the commission decided that the march could go ahead with restrictions in place.

However, that decision was challenged in several Belfast courts on Saturday, before finally being given the go-ahead just hours before it was due to take place.