WHY did the PSNI apparently tell the Parades Commission it was not expecting disorder over a Garvaghy Road parade, despite warning of disorder every July for 28 years and despite drafting in 200 extra officers from Scotland last weekend?

Clarity emerged in a High Court ruling published on Tuesday.

It revealed that the PSNI had considered a range of scenarios, from a peaceful parade to violent disorder, given the commission its risk assessment on each, and made plans to cope with any of them. However, the PSNI identified no specific information that violence would occur.

The judge found the commission had engaged extensively with the police, properly considered the risk of disorder, and restricted the parade accordingly – halving its size and moving it from 1pm to 8am.

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So it was the commission that ultimately decided a trouble-free parade was possible.

“It is important to read the determination as a whole and not to seek to cherry-pick particular lines or sections from it,” the judge concluded.

People have picked up the line about no specific information on violence and overlooked all the other consideration of risk.

The PSNI is clearly aggrieved at the commission for creating this perception.

The question that really needs to be asked is whether it was unintended confusion from a complex document or an intentional passing of the buck.

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Drumcree might not be causing disorder but there could still be a political crisis over the attendance of Sinn Féin and SDLP representatives at the Garvaghy Road protest.

If they are prosecuted, they might consider it an intolerable humiliation.

If they are not, unionists will cry two-tier policing. Jamie Bryson has called for Michelle O’Neill to be “put in the back of a Land Rover”.

© The Irish News