Trimble meets Portadown Orangemen

Drumcree Church: Scene of controversial march.

The Northern Ireland First Minister has said an Orange parade down the Garvaghy Road this year should be part of the problem solving process.

David Trimble met Orangemen from Portadown, County Armagh at Stormont on Tuesday and at the meeting they told him the current situation over Drumcree could not continue indefinitely.

The Drumcree dispute centres on the Protestant Orange Order's desire to walk down the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road near Portadown.

Mr Trimble said he would press the case for a parade this year with Northern Ireland Secretary of State John Reid.

David Trimble met Portadown Orangemen at Stormont

He said: "I think that would be part of it. Obviously just a part of it, because there are other concerns in the community.

"We have to stress that community aspect.

"I know only too well the extent to which this issue has affected the community in the greater Portadown area, and we will not be able to rebuild any form of community relations until this issue is resolved."

The Drumcree dispute enters its 1,000th day this weekend.

Meanwhile, the deputy leader of the nationalist SDLP, Seamus Mallon, has agreed to a meeting with the Portadown Orangemen.

Mr Mallon stressed that the meeting would be in his role within the SDLP and not as deputy first minister of Northern Ireland.

The Orangemen had hoped to meet him on Tuesday, but a mutually convenient time for the talks has yet to be found.

Mr Mallon agreed to a meeting after a request was made by the officers of the Portadown district lodge to meet him and Mr Trimble.

Mallon will discuss Drumcree march.

A spokesman for Mr Mallon said: "Mr Mallon will be meeting them as the SDLP deputy leader and with his colleague Brid Rodgers as the local assembly member."

The Parades Commission, the body established to make rulings on contentious marches, has barred the Drumcree parade from passing along the road since July 1998.

The head of the Orange Order, Robert Saulters, held his first meeting with Northern Ireland Secretary, Dr John Reid on Monday.

The Orangemen in Portadown have been warned by independent mediator Brian Currin and the Parades Commission that their failure to enter into direct dialogue with the commission and nationalist residents, weakened their case for a lifting of the ban.

Brian Currin: Parades mediator

Speaking in February, Mr Currin said it would be difficult to imagine the process advancing in a meaningful way if the order maintained its ban on talks.

He said the emphasis should be on a collaborative effort including the residents, the Parades Commission and the government.

He warned that European human rights legislation could result in a total ban on marches if a joint solution was not reached.

"The Parades Commission provides a key to the preservation of cultural diversity in Northern Ireland," he said.

"If that key is thrown away, the consequences for Orangeism, its culture and traditions will be dire."

Protests over a ban on the annual march from Drumcree church in Portadown taking the route along the Garvaghy Road, led to widespread disruption in Northern Ireland last summer, spilling over into violence in some areas.