Northern Ireland Secretary to return to Hillsborough for Drumcree talks

Sir Chris had been involved in talks since Monday and proposed a document for discussion among the Orange Order and Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition in a bid to break the impasse.

He left the region for an engagement in England but is expected to return to Co Down later on Thursday to continue the process on the fifth day of the dispute.

On Wednesday, after hours of talks around Sir Chris’s proposed paper, Breandan Mac Cionnaith from the residents group said they would back it if the Orange Order did.

However DUP Upper Bann MP Carla Lockhart told the Press Association in Portadown on Wednesday night that the proposed deal was “not acceptable”.

The Portadown District of the Orange Order wants to complete its traditional route for the first time in almost 30 years after the Parades Commission ruled that the parade should be allowed along the Garvaghy Road.

The residents coalition is opposing the parade and a fresh legal challenge by the group is due to be heard in the courts on Friday.

The dispute is expected to dominate Chief Constable Jon Boutcher’s monthly appearance at the Northern Ireland Policing Board.

PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher (Liam McBurney/PA)

PA Wire

The DUP is to propose that Sinn Fein board member Deirdre Hargey be excluded from the meeting after she took part in an illegal protest on the Garvaghy Road on Sunday.

Mr Boutcher met the Orange Order and Garvaghy Road residents on Wednesday.

In a statement before those meetings, he warned that “mob rule” must not be allowed to win as he stressed the need to find a peaceful resolution.

Mr Boutcher said he would continue to seek a way to facilitate the Orange Order march down the predominantly nationalist Garvaghy Road, but made clear he is not prepared to do so at any cost, highlighting his overriding responsibility is keeping people safe.

He also confirmed a large-scale criminal investigation is under way into the mass unlawful protest that blocked the route on Sunday in an attempt to prevent the parade going ahead.