Orange wreath-laying can go ahead

A wreath-laying ceremony can take place during a restricted Orange Order parade in County Antrim, the Parades Commission has said.

In a "clarification" on its ruling on a 12 July parade in Dunloy the commission said the ceremony could go ahead.

"The commission does not seek to restrict or in any way interfere with this ceremony", it said.

DUP leader Ian Paisley, MP for the area, welcomed the commission's decision to "modify its determination".

"We trust that the Orange brethren will now be allowed to remember the dead in a dignified manner as they have always done for many years," he said.

Earlier, on Monday, Mr Paisley had raised the issue with the chairman of the commission in London.

The commission has placed conditions on the parade in the north Antrim village.

The wreath-laying ceremony is to take place in the grounds of Dunloy Presbyterian Church on Wednesday.

Sinn Fein's North Antrim assembly member Philip McGuigan met the commission in Belfast over the parade.

"Sinn Fein has never refused anyone from attending church or laying wreaths in the town," he said.

"However, we do oppose the sectarian coat-trailing exercise which the Orange Order attempt to foist on the people of Dunloy on an annual basis."

The Commission was set up in 1997 to make decisions on whether controversial parades should be restricted.

The Orange Order is the largest Protestant organisation in Northern Ireland with at least 75,000 members, some of them in the Republic of Ireland.

Its origins date from the 17th century battle for supremacy between Protestantism and Catholicism. Prince William of Orange, originally of the Netherlands, led the fight against Catholic King James.