The Orange Order and nationalist residents are close to brokering an historic deal over the bitter Drumcree parade dispute, it emerged today.
Intensive negotiations involving British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Chief of Staff, Mr Jonathan Powell, have raised hopes a march may be allowed down the flashpoint Garvaghy Road in Portadown, Co Armagh next Sunday.
Orangemen in the town have agreed to end their ban on face to face talks with Catholics living on the route.
One source close to the initiative said: "It's hard to see at this stage why a parade will not take place."
It is understood Archbishop Robin Eames, the head of the Church of Ireland, and senior Sinn Féin representatives have also been involved in the secret discussions.
The plans, if agreed, will see Portadown Orangemen allowed to march in return for setting up a civic forum to deal with both sides' grievances.
Violence has flared at the march ever since the first stand-off between loyalists and the security forces in 1995.
The Orange Order has been banned from walking back from Drumcree Church into Portadown ever since 1998, provoking riots and widespread disturbances.
The Parades Commission has continued to re-route the march amid fears of heightened trouble and because of the Orangemen's refusal to enter into direct talks with Garvaghy Road residents.
Until now the Order has refused to speak to the residents because it claims they are a front for republicans.
But a trouble-free Orange parade along the controversial Springfield Road in west Belfast yesterday, where nationalists agreed to hold a silent protest, has boosted hopes of further breakthroughs on contentious marches.
The Drumcree initiative appeared to be on the brink of collapse earlier this month when residents refused to meet with Orange Order representatives.
Garvaghy Road nationalists want assurances the parade will be a one-off, while the Orange Order is seeking pledges that other contentious issues would be discussed in the future forum arrangement.
"Basically, the Portadown Orangemen get down the road this year, while all future parades would be discussed against a broader background where both communities address their concerns," said one source.
"This is not just about marches. Nationalists feel they have been disadvantaged and excluded from the life of Portadown generally.
"All those issues would have to be discussed in some kind of forum arrangement."
However, an Orange Order spokesman said any negotiations were a matter for the Portadown District rather than the central leadership.
But he added: "Grand Lodge is still of the position that engaging with organisations that purport to be residents' groups but are actually a front for Sinn Féin pursuing a bigger agenda is not good as Orangism gets used as a political football."
Ms Dara O'Hagan, the Sinn Féin representative in Portadown, denied any talks were under way.
She said: "I met with the Parades Commission on Wednesday and we put it to them that nothing has fundamentally changed. "So our position that the parade should be re-routed remains the same."
PA