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Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Bryant is returning to Hillsborough Castle on Thursday to continue negotiations regarding the Drumcree parading dispute. Despite ongoing talks, the Orange Order has stated that no deal is currently on the table and insists on the legal right to march down Garvaghy Road. DUP MP Carla Lockhart emphasized that the Orangemen will not accept any agreement that compromises their parade rights, while Garvaghy Road residents have indicated openness to a potential compromise.
Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Bryant is to return to Hillsborough Castle later on Thursday to host further talks on the Drumcree parading dispute. Bryant has been involved in discussions with the Orange Order and Garvaghy Road residents since Monday.
He had left Northern Ireland for an engagement in England but is expected to return to Co Down on Thursday to continue negotiations. On Wednesday night, Jamie Bryson , a legal adviser for Portadown’s Orangemen, said they were “not doing any deal” surrounding their contentious plan to march down Garvaghy Road at Drumcree in Co Armagh.
Speaking at a loyalist community event in support of the Orange Order marchers, Bryson said: “We have been engaged in a talks process with the secretary of state and the government – that is true.
“What is absolutely not true is the Portadown District are not doing any deal – there is no document on the table. “And Portadown District would not be doing any deal which doesn’t deliver on the fundamental legal principle and the fundamental legal principle is this: that the Portadown District will walk the Garvaghy Road.
” Earlier, DUP MP Carla Lockhart said Orangemen would not accept any deal on the Drumcree dispute that saw them “walk away” from their right to parade down the Garvaghy Road.
“They have been wronged for 28 years,” she said. Hundreds of Garvaghy Road residents were briefed on Wednesday night on the outcome of Hillsborough talks. Breandán Mac Cionnaith of the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition said he would be prepared to accept a compromise proposed by Bryant if the Orange Order would do the same.
“We talked about that proposal because I want to make sure that people are happy about what I’m doing on their behalf and the other members of the coalition are doing on their behalf. So we have always reported back to the community. That’s nothing new,” Mac Cionnaith told journalists later, speaking outside the St John The Baptist’s church’s pastoral centre.
However, the level of detail given at the meeting was unclear. Meanwhile, the Northern Ireland Policing Board is investigating whether Sinn Féin board member Deirdre Hargey has breached the board’s code of conduct by allegedly taking part in a protest on the Garvaghy Road. Board chairman Brendan Mullan said following complaints he has instigated proceedings to investigate the matter.
“Specifically, I have asked the vice chair to investigate, and the outcome of that investigation will be reported in due course,” he said. However he permitted Hargey to remain in the meeting. DUP board member Trevor Clarke requested at the start of the meeting that she be excluded because she had been at an “unlawful assembly” on the Garvaghy Road, and that there is a “clear conflict of interest” in her remaining while the Drumcree dispute is discussed.
Mullan said it was his view that all political representatives have an interest in the matters unfolding on Garvaghy Road, but that their “interest is not in conflict with their role as a board member”.
“In fact such interest goes to the heart of the accountability framework established by Patton whereby the political representatives in representing the views of their community bring a democratic mandate to policing oversight,” he said. He added: “There then is the matter that Deirdre has been photographed participating in the protest on Garvaghy Road, and would be conflicted if she was as a board member party to, and raised questions in relation to prosecutions arising from the protest.
Given that this is an ongoing police operation, no member should raise questions regarding specific prosecutions, and therefore no conflict arises. ” - PA
Drumcree Parading Dispute Chris Bryant Orange Order Garvaghy Road Hillsborough Talks
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