The Parades Commission announcement yesterday banning the Portadown District Orange Lodge from parading via the nationalist Garvaghy Road came after indirect talks between the Orangemen and residents at Stormont yesterday broke up after six hours without agreement.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, were involved in attempts to find an agreement over the parade scheduled for next Sunday. Mr Ahern and Mr Blair held separate meetings with the nationalist residents and Mr Blair twice met the Orange delegation.
An additional ruling was given yesterday by the Parades Commission on the Protestant "Long March", imposing restrictions as it leaves Lurgan, Co Armagh, and also preventing it from parading along the Garvaghy Road. Organisers claim the 10-day march is a Protestant civil rights demonstration in the name of the victims of republican violence.
Delaying its announcement on the Portadown parade so to allow for the possibility of agreement being reached by the two sides, the commission outlined the legally binding decision banning the section of the parade route at 5.30 p.m. A hoax bomb alert at the hotel used for the press conference disrupted the statement of the commission chairman, Mr Alistair Graham, and he was forced to deliver it in the car park.
"The commission considers that it does not have evidence that sufficient steps have been taken to demonstrate a substantive and sustained process of engagement on the part of the Portadown District LOL No.1 and the Garvaghy Road residents."
Mr Graham said it wanted to see a lifting of all the protest activity and parades taking place in Portadown. "We want to see a sustained engagement with the nationalist community to try and deal with their concerns."
He was critical of the Portadown Orangemen's refusal to meet or recognise the Parades Commission and for showing little sense of movement in talks with residents until "late in the day". The demonstrations held at Drumcree since last July, when they were last prevented from marching along the Garvaghy Road, amounted to "a collective pressure" on the commission to change its ruling.
Mr Graham urged direct talks between the sides to establish trust and respect. He stressed that if the Orange district made conciliatory overtures, and these were not received positively by the residents, then this would be taken into account in future decisions taken by the commission.
"No residents' group, no group of citizens have a right of veto over parades."
Mr Breandan Mac Cionnaith, spokesman for the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition, welcomed the parade decision and said it was necessary for everyone to engage fully and positively if the issue was to be resolved.
However, he urged that the focus of attention fall not just on the Drumcree impasse but rather on "the whole social, political and economic situation in Portadown and the need to create a society in the town where everyone has equal rights".
After meeting Mr Blair earlier in the day, Mr Mac Cionnaith said it was "completely ridiculous" to suggest that an Orange march would be welcomed by residents. Commenting on the announcement last night, the County Armagh Orange grand master, Mr Denis Watson, said the nationalist residents did not want the issue resolved.
In a statement, the Portadown Orangemen said the Parades Commission had again denied them their rights, even after they had shown willingness to reach an accommodation. They registered their "bitter disappointment" when the talks, under the chairmanship of Mr Blair's chief of staff, Mr Jonathan Powell, ended.
"The residents seem content to hide behind the decision of the Parades Commission. Despite our disappointment we will still be working for an agreement suitable to all," the statement added.
When Mr Blair again met the Orange district leaders yesterday it is understood he complimented them on the increased flexibility they had shown. He held out the prospect that the march might be permitted in the Garvaghy Road later in the year.