The outcome of a legal challenge to the composition of the Northern Ireland Parades Commission is due to be announced in the High Court in Belfast today. Following yesterday's application for a judicial review, the Lord Chief Justice, Sir Robert Carswell, said he wished to consider his judgment overnight.
The Secretary of State, Mr Peter Mandelson, was the respondent in the application, which followed his appointment of six members last February. They are former High Court judge Sir John Pringle, Rev Roy Magee, Mr Peter Quinn, Mr John Cousins, Mr Billy Martin and Mr Peter Osborne.
The case was brought by Ms Evelyn White, from Churchill Gardens, Portadown, who has lived in the Garvaghy Road area for 28 years, and was in court along with Cllr Breandan Mac Cionnaith, of the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition.
Counsel Mr Barry Macdonald said Ms White's primary complaint was that Mr Mandelson had failed to comply with a requirement imposed by the 1998 Public Processions Act to ensure the commission was representative of the community in Northern Ireland.
A related complaint was that Mr Mandelson had failed to give any or adequate weight to achieving a proper balance in terms of political opinion, religious belief and gender. The result, he said, was no women members, two Catholics and one nationalist.
Mr Ronnie Weatherup QC said it would have been better if there had been a woman member but Mr Mandelson's plans were disrupted by the withdrawal of a woman at the last minute.