A High Court judge has quashed a Parades Commission determination that prevented the annual Orange Order parade at Drumcree from returning along the Garvaghy Road in Portadown. The commission conceded the case before a full hearing, acknowledging a procedural failing.

The legal challenge was brought by a Portadown Orangeman over the commission’s decision on the July 2026 parade. Mr Justice McAlinden, sitting in Belfast on Tuesday, said he had no hesitation in making the quashing order and described the determination as a case that does not stand up to any scrutiny. He ordered the commission to pay the full costs of the proceedings.

The court heard that the commission consented to the quashing last week. John Larkin KC, representing the applicant, said the final determination had not been considered by all six commissioners before it was issued. Internal correspondence was also referred to, including an email from commissioner Billy Gamble describing mediation as a non-starter and suggesting references to it be removed so as not to give the Orange Order an angle to keep prodding the commission. Mr Larkin said the commission’s approach amounted to a scandalous abdication of responsibility.

The Parades Commission has prohibited the Orange Order from completing its traditional route along the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road every year since 1998. That year saw widespread public disorder linked to the dispute, and the restriction has remained in place for almost three decades.

Following the ruling, DUP Upper Bann MP Carla Lockhart said the decision was a massive victory for unionism and loyalism. She stated she had written to the Secretary of State calling for the removal of the current commissioners, and that she had received a formal apology from the chair of the commission regarding false evidence given under oath about her. TUV leader Jim Allister, who was in court, said the commissioners should resign or be removed. The Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland welcomed the judgment and said the position of the current commissioners was untenable, calling for a comprehensive examination of the commission’s internal decision-making processes.

Loyalist activist Jamie Bryson, part of the applicant’s legal team alongside John Larkin KC and barrister Emma McIlveen, said a fresh application to march along the Garvaghy Road would be lodged. Portadown District Master Nigel Dawson confirmed the intention to submit a new application in the near future.

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Bryant said he was concerned that the commission appeared not to have got things right and that it must carry the respect of all communities to function.

Sinn Féin MP John Finucane said the judgment did not determine that a parade should proceed down the Garvaghy Road and did not give permission for one. He said residents of the Garvaghy Road and Portadown had lived peacefully for 28 years and that Sinn Féin would represent against any fresh application.