The High Court has ordered the Parades Commission to disclose the records behind its decision to prevent an Orange Order parade from marching along Portadown’s Garvaghy Road. The direction came during a judicial review application brought on behalf of a Portadown Orangeman.

Mr Justice McAlinden adjourned the case until the second week of August and directed that all decision-making material from commissioners be released. The restriction on using the Garvaghy Road remains in force while proceedings are ongoing.

Jamie Bryson, a member of the legal team, described the court’s disclosure order as the first significant scrutiny of the commission’s process in the 27-year history of the ban. DUP Upper Bann MP Carla Lockhart, who attended the hearing, said it was a highly significant step in the Portadown brethren’s long campaign for transparency.

The challenge follows the latest refusal by the Parades Commission of an application by Portadown District LOL No. 1 for a 400-strong parade this Sunday. The planned route would have taken participants from Drumcree Parish Church south along the Garvaghy Road for about 1.1km.

The commission has barred Orange parades from the predominantly Catholic Garvaghy Road since 1998, citing serious historical disorder that included loss of life and injury. In its most recent determination, the commission said the historical context could not be ignored and that the conditions imposed were necessary and proportionate.

Separately, a new application has been lodged for a smaller procession of 10 people on Sunday morning, named the Drumcree Civil and Religious Liberty Memorial walk. That application remains undetermined by the commission.