CALLS yesterday for the resignation of the Grand Master of the g Order have strengthened "the belief that there is a serious split developing within the organisation.
The challenge came from a Co Tyrone Orangeman, Mr Joel Patton, who leads the dissident right-wing Spirit of Drumcree faction within the Order. However, Mr Robert Saulters, the Grand Master, said he would not resign and accused Mr Patton of "trying to stir things up".
The divisions have been high-lighted in the past two weeks when solutions to three different controversial parades became possible. These were at Dunloy, Co Antrim; an Orange parade at Dromore, Co Tyrone; and the Apprentice Boys parade on the Ormeau Road, Belfast, on Monday.
Yesterday Mr Saulters, the Dunloy Residents' Association and the Mediation Network, which has been arbitrating in the Dunloy dispute, said a solution existed. They appealed to the Dunloy Orange Lodge to reach an accommodation.
It is understood the terms centre on an Orange parade in July, a Black Institution parade in the autumn, plus a one-off parade in the near future.
In an unusual step, the Mediation Network, an independent agency which works in the background, yesterday accused "misguided" members of the Orange Order of seeking to destroy all that had been achieved in mediation at Dunloy.
Mr Brendan McAllister, of the network, said: "For the past number of weeks, individuals associated with the Spirit of Drumcree grouping have been trying to sabotage the mediation process at Dunloy by spreading rumour and innuendo through the media.
"The community has two choices for the coming year. We neither choose the way of Dunloy, with communication leading to peace, or we choose the way of Drumcree, with confrontation leading to violence."
Dissidents within the Orange Order forced the abandonment of a meeting of County Antrim Grand Lodge in Ballymena on Thursday. Hopes had been high that this meeting could end the parades controversy at Dunloy.
The County Grand Master, Mr Robert McIlroy, was forced to leave the meeting amid jeers. He accused Mr Patton of hijacking the gathering and called on Orange members in Mr Patton's district to censure him.
Mr Patton said yesterday the authority of the Grand Master was in question. "The authority rests within the people in the final analysis and it rests within the ordinary Orangemen. And if ordinary Orangemen say no, we will not be talking to IRA/Sinn Fein through these community groups, we will not be doing secret deals on parades. If a grand master and grand lodge do not take recognition of that then there is only one result. "Mr Saulters must go."
Mr Saulters accused the dissidents of muscling in on a decision which was ultimately that of the Dunloy Orange Lodge.
Mr Tony Chivers, of the Dunloy Residents' Association, said there was no deal. "We had a meeting last Sunday night to discuss what we were prepared to offer. We conveyed terms of a gesture of goodwill but because that meeting was hijacked last night they did not find out what the terms were."