Drumcree dispute: Key figures

Garvaghy Road: Heart of the dispute

Find out who's who in the continuing dispute over the Drumcree march in Northern Ireland.

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Tony Holland

The chairman of the Parades Commission, Tony Holland has faced the ire of the Orange Order for banning the Portadown lodge from the contested route of the Drumcree march.

Mr Holland, a solicitor by profession, has consistently stressed that only agreement between the Orange Order and the residents will guarantee a parade taking place along the Garvaghy Road.

He has sought to encourage that dialogue, saying this year that "there has been movement, all be it imperceptible movement, on the part of both sides."

He also points out that almost all other parades in Northern Ireland go ahead without any restrictions imposed.

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Harold Gracey

District Master of the Portadown Lodge since 1986, Mr Gracey has led the local Orangemen throughout the entire dispute.

He has accused the Parades Commission of being blatantly anti-Orange but insists that this has only stiffened his resolve.

At the height of the dispute in 2000, he sparked controversy when he first called for loyalists to protest across Northern Ireland and then said that he would not condemn any violence because Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams never condemned republican violence.

Speaking at a rally to mark 1000 days of the stand-off at Drumcree, Mr Gracey appealed directly to members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

"The vast majority of you come from the Protestant community and it is high time that you supported your own Protestant people," he said.

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David Jones

Spokesman for Portadown Orange Lodge who has sought to better promote its position and is an assured media performer.

He has described the mood of the Portadown Orangemen since the dispute began as being one of "frustration but also determination" to walk their traditional route along Garvaghy Road.

Mr Jones was recently elected as an independent councillor in the Portadown area.

And earlier this month, he was controversially chosen to be part of a council delegation to meet the Parades Commission. Nationalists said the delegation was the Orange Order in all but name.

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Breandan MacCionnaith

The main spokesman for the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition since the dispute developed.

He is an outspoken critic of the Portadown Orange Order and previously sat as an independent nationalist on the local Craigavon Council.

He previously served a jail sentence for his involvement in a republican bomb attack in Portadown.

His critics in the Orange Order accuse him of being "so entrenched in his position he has no desire whatsoever to reach accommodation."

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Brian Currin

A leading South African human rights lawyer, Mr Currin entered the fray as independent mediator in 2000.

Mr Currin was a co-chairman of the Northern Ireland Sentence Review Commission and said that he hoped he could achieve a breakthrough in the mediation role because he was a completely independent outsider.

He has stressed that it is only the two parties themselves who can ultimately resolve the impasse.

Earlier this year he warned the Orange Order that its present policy of not negotiating with residents or the Parades Commission stood no practical or legal chance of winning a human rights court challenge because of the UK's interpretation of the legislation.

Weeks before the 2001 scheduled march, he appealed to loyalist paramilitaries to stay away from Drumcree.

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Denis Watson

Grand Secretary of the Orange Order and Grand Master of the County Armagh lodge, Mr Watson is a key figure in the Drumcree dispute.

He has attacked the authorities for dismissing its rights - but has also said that Orangemen should be expelled if they are involved in paramilitaries.

In 1998, the Ulster Unionists expelled him from the party when he decided to stand an independent candidate for the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Following his election, he formed the United Unionist Assembly Party with two other members.

Mr Watson has criticised the mediator Brian Currin for making public a paper he wrote on the dispute in February 2001.

"What Brian has done has damaged his own credibility as an honest broker," he said.