SINN FÉIN and a loyalist parades body have expressed hope that progress towards an accommodation between marching organisations and nationalist residents can be found.
This followed two hours of talks between Gerry Adams, Gerry Kelly and two Sinn Féin councillors, and members of the loyalist North and West Belfast Parades and Culture Forum.
The discussions, held at Belfast City Hall, were scheduled to last up to one hour but lasted two hours before both sides emerged to declare they would meet again, probably some time next month.
The discussions, described as groundbreaking by the Sinn Féin president, followed three days of serious rioting at Ardoyne in north Belfast after the parade on July 12th which passed the republican enclave.
The talks participants are anxious to avert further trouble if Apprentice Boys parade along the same contentious route on August 14th. They have applied for permission to do so from the Parades Commission and a ruling is due some time in the next two weeks.
Mr Adams said he hoped progress would follow yesterday’s meeting.
“I found it a very useful exchange. We listened very, very intently to what our friends had to say about all of these issues and their sense of themselves and their sense of their section of our community in this city of Belfast.”
However, he set a tone of realism, saying: “We are not going to sort all of this out in one meeting. These are big issues.”
Mr Adams said he hoped representatives of the Orange Order would become involved in talks which he insisted were not negotiations.
Parades forum spokesman Tommy Cheevers agreed the discussions were exploratory and were not tantamount to negotiations.
“The purpose here was not to negotiate on the next parade, it was more to explore each other’s feelings, thoughts and positions.
“We also discussed how we can move forward given the events that happened recently in the Ardoyne area.
“We have agreed to keep up contact and we all agree that all parades and protests must be carried out in a peaceful way.
“The only way we can do that is to create good neighbours . . . some of those people who have been misbehaving on July 12th certainly don’t care one damn about the future.”
The question of Orange Order involvement in discussions with republicans was a matter for the order and not for the parades forum, Mr Cheevers added.