DUP officers meet over Drumcree fallout as O'Neill says she was blocked from Glasgow summit

Centre · 2The DUP's party officers, the main decision-making body, were due to meet on 29 October to consider the party's next steps after the Drumcree parading dispute. 1 2 Centre · 1Sources told the BBC's Nolan Live programme that the officers were expected to consider whether to withdraw Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly or stop official engagements with First Minister Michelle O'Neill. 2 Centre · 1Later on Thursday, O'Neill said Little-Pengelly had "blocked" them from attending the National Economic Council in Glasgow on Friday. The summit involves Prime Minister Andy Burnham and other devolved leaders, and both had been invited. O'Neill called the move "reckless and irresponsible" and "a reactive stunt, driven by the DUP's own internal pressures and electoral problems". 2

Centre · 1The dispute began when the Parades Commission allowed the Orange Order to parade down the Garvaghy Road in Portadown from Drumcree Church for the first time in almost 30 years. This led to a two-week stand-off, and the parade could not take place because of large numbers of protesters. 1 Centre · 1Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Chris Bryant then overturned the commission's decision and banned the procession, and a High Court judge upheld that decision on Wednesday 28 October. 1 Centre · 2Police are investigating the unnotified protest of 27 September, and have said invitations to interview went to people "reasonably suspected of committing offences". O'Neill and other senior Sinn Féin figures have been interviewed. Under parading law, protests must be notified to and approved by the Parades Commission. O'Neill says taking part was the "right thing to do". 1 2

Centre · 2Upper Bann MP Carla Lockhart has led DUP calls to withdraw Little-Pengelly, which would automatically remove O'Neill because of the joint structure and effectively collapse the Executive. She resigned as a party officer last week over leader Gavin Robinson's refusal to do so. 1 2 Centre · 2Robinson has resisted, arguing that imploding the Executive would damage unionism. He asked whether it was necessary to "punish everyone in Northern Ireland when actually we should be punishing those who broke the law", and said "all options" remain on the table. 1 2 Centre · 1Assembly members Diane Forsythe and Maurice Bradley, Lord McCrea and councillor Clement Cuthbertson have backed Lockhart. Forsythe said joint Executive Office engagements should stop immediately as a "bare minimum" without meaningful action. Bradley said removing O'Neill would not in itself require the Assembly to collapse. 2

Centre · 1If the Executive collapsed, individual ministers would stay in post for up to six months and the Assembly could keep sitting. The row is playing out ahead of an Assembly election due in May. 1 Centre · 1Last week a court heard PSNI intelligence that dissidents may have mounted gun attacks on police had officers cleared a path for the parade. 2