Drumcree dispute: Orange Order and GRRC arrive for Hillsborough talks
Members of the Portadown Orange Order and the Garvaghy Road Residents’ Coalition (GRRC) have arrived separately at Hillsborough Castle for further talks on the Drumcree parading dispute.
The Orange Order delegation included Nigel Dawson, district master in Portadown, and loyalist activist Jamie Bryson who has been acting as their legal adviser.
GRRC chairman Breandán Mac Cionnaith said he did not know what to expect from the latest round of discussions.
On Tuesday, lawyers for the GRRC issued a fresh legal bid to try to prevent the march from going ahead.
It was due to be heard on Friday but has been postponed until Monday to allow for more talks involving the secretary of state.
On Sunday, an Orange Order parade from Drumcree church 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.
On Thursday evening, Mac Cionnaith said “the British government know what our position is,” as the residents’ group arrived at the castle gates.
“The Orange Order know what our position is,” he added.
“I’m here to represent my community. That’s all I have to say.”
The Orange Order delegation made no comment to reporters as the group walked through the gates of the castle grounds.
Both the Orange Order and the Garvaghy Road Residents’ Coalition (GRRC) were given a document during separate meetings with Secretary of State Sir Chris Bryant on Wednesday.
Earlier, Dawson said they were shown a discussion document in relation to the Drumcree dispute, but stressed it was “not a proposal”.
The chairman of the residents’ coalition said his group would agree to it, if the Orange Order did.
Dawson said on Thursday that the document shown to him “was very much an opening document and I read the document and there was nothing in it that moved the situation forward at all”.
“And the document has now been removed from the table,” he added.
Sir Chris has been involved in discussions with the Orange Order and Garvaghy Road residents since Monday.
Face to face talks are currently taking place involving both the Orange Order and later the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition.
It is understood that both parties on Wednesday signed a confidentiality agreement after being presented with a document from the government.
On Thursday, The Nolan Show revealed details of what was in the document that was 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.
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Gavin Robinson would not discuss the details of the proposal but told the Nolan Show that he supported the Orange Order’s “determination and their dignity in the face of hostility and lawbreaking”.
“In rejecting what is there doesn’t mean that is the end of a discussion, nor does it mean it is the end of a successful conclusion,” he said.
“But it does mean that this process is maybe not as optimistically quick as some may have hoped.”
