Orange Order march to go ahead for first time in nearly 30 years after late night drama

The parade (pictured above in 2018 on a 20th anniversary protest) had been halted due to a temporary injunction being granted at the High Court in Belfast

A controversial Orange Order parade is set to go ahead on Sunday morning in a nationalist part of Northern Ireland for the first time in nearly 30 years.

The Drumcree parade, which in the 1990s sparked some of the most serious disorder in Northern Ireland's history, had been given permission to go ahead along the Garvaghy Road with restrictions in place.

In a hearing concluding at 02:15 BST on Sunday morning, Justice Michael Humphreys acknowledged the "unusual if not unprecedented circumstances... with a parade due to begin in just over six hours' time".

Northern Ireland's most senior judge, Lady Chief Justice Siobhan Keegan, similarly described the situation as "unprecedented".

Rather than start at 13:00 on Sunday as intended, the commission said it could begin no later than 08:00 and with 35 participants rather than the 60 the Orange Order requested.

This was later successfully challenged by an Orange Order member at the Court of Appeal.

The Drumcree parade dispute began in the mid-1990s and it almost derailed the peace process at the time.

When the Orange Order was prevented by police from walking down the route in July 1995 there was a tense stand-off. It was the same for the next three years.

Its decision not to allow a march down the Garvaghy Road that summer has been challenged by the order - unsuccessfully - over the past three decades.

DUP MP Carla Lockhart and loyalist activist Jamie Bryson address the media after the final court ruling

The Orange Order is the most prominent of the loyal orders associated with Protestants in Northern Ireland.