A meeting between the Apprentice Boys and nationalist residents may be held within weeks after the order accepted an invitation from the Lower Ormeau Road community group to discuss the controversial parade route.
The Orange Order of Ballynafeigh has also agreed to take part in proximity talks with the residents' group after receiving a similar invitation yesterday. The Lord Mayor of Belfast, Mr David Alderdice, said he is willing to act as facilitator to the indirect negotiations.
The move came after a spokesman for the Apprentice Boys, Mr Tommy Cheevers, claimed his organisation had made numerous attempts to meet the Lower Ormeau Concerned Community (LOCC) group over the last five months - something denied by the residents.
"As soon as possible we will be sitting down with the LOCC to ask them what are your concerns," he said. His organisation was looking for "tolerance twice a year for seven minutes", he said.
On Monday, the Ballynafeigh branch of the Apprentice Boys was prevented from marching down the predominantly nationalist Lower Ormeau Road in accordance with a ruling from the Parades Commission.
According to the spokesman for the LOCC, Mr Gerard Rice, the Apprentice Boys had shown that there was no principle preventing the loyal orders from meeting with the LOCC. "The Orange Order's position that it will not sit down with Lower Ormeau residents is no longer tenable," he said.
Mr Rice denied that his group had been wrong-footed by the Apprentice Boys announcement that the order had attempted to begin talks.
"We were wrong-footed in the sense that we put a lot of trust, a lot of respect, in the process we were building. For it to be beamed out over the media the way that it was done was a surprise to us. We were asked to keep letters and things that were very, very sensitive to the Apprentice Boys confidential and that's what we did," he said.