Further Drumcree parades planned

Tension surrounds the annual Drumcree parade

The Protestant Orange Order has applied to hold a total of seven further parades at Drumcree which is at the centre of one of Northern Ireland's most contentious marching disputes.

The Order wants to hold additional parades from Portadown in County Armagh to Drumcree Parish Church from 2-8 July.

The traditional 9 July march to a Somme commemoration service at Drumcree is still expected to go ahead as normal.

The parades are contentious because Orangemen want to return to their Orange Hall by marching down the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown, against the wishes of many residents.

Talks on issue

Tension has surrounded the annual parade for the last five years and the Northern Ireland Parades Commission has imposed restrictions on the march for the past two years, which prevented it going down the Garvaghy Road.

A series of talks on the issue with British Government officials also failed to broker a resolution to the dispute.

However, South African Human Rights lawyer and mediator Brian Currin is trying to mediate in the dispute.

He met nationalist residents opposed to the annual parade on Thursday, and will be meeting government officials on Friday.

Breandan MacCionnnaith: Major problems to be overcome

After Thursday's meeting, Garvaghy Residents Coalition spokesman Breandan MacCionnaith said they believed Mr Currin was "independent and impartial and might be able to bring a new approach".

He added: " But people should not underestimate the problems that have to be faced here, and neither should they try to hype up what is happening at the current time."

Earlier, in the week, Sinn Fein assembly member Dr Dara O'Hagan said her party was dismayed both by the news of the new applications and the timing.

She said the latest applications called into question the commitment of the Orange Order to seek a resolution through the mediation process with Mr Currin.

"Are they going to try and lay siege to the Garvaghy Road community for that week from 2 July on?" she said.

But Portadown Orange spokesman David Jones said: "We feel we have the democratic right to protest. That is what our protest has been about, and one method of our particular protest is to have such parades."

The army is believed to have begun preparing for the parade, shipping machinery into Northern Ireland.