The hardline Orange Order group, the Spirit of Drumcree, has said it will appeal the decision to expel its leader, Mr Joel Patton, from the Orange Order. At a meeting of the Spirit of Drumcree group in Co Antrim on Tuesday, some 200 members, said to represent thousands of Orangemen across Northern Ireland, unanimously backed the leadership of Mr Patton. They also decided to support Mr Patton in his formal appeal against expulsion to the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland.
Mr Patton and fellow Spirit of Drumcree member Mr Walter Millar were expelled from the Order last week by the Grand Orange Lodge of Tyrone after Mr Patton continually interrupted a speech by an Orange chaplain, the Rev William Bingham, at a 12th July demonstration in Pomeroy, Co Tyrone. Mr Bingham had called on Orangemen protesting at Drumcree to stop, following the death of the three Quinn children in Ballymoney.