The Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland is waiting for formal notification of decisions taken at a meeting in Co Antrim last weekend, when 25 district lodges voted to break ties with the Ulster Unionist Party and passed a motion of no confidence in the North's First Minister.
"It is possible the Co Antrim lodges will supply a statement just to make their votes official, or they may move to encourage a similar stance by the Grand Lodge of Ireland," said an Orange Order spokesman yesterday.
The Co Antrim Grand Orange Lodge, with more than 10,000 members, is the largest of the county jurisdictions operating within the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland. Last April it rejected the Belfast Agreement as "anti-unionist" and urged a No vote in the referendum.
A meeting of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland takes place at the end of March. Sources within the order suggest the Co Antrim district lodges may request that identical motions be placed on the agenda.
The motion of no confidence in Mr David Trimble, who is a member of a Bangor lodge, was proposed by the Aghalee district lodge and was based on his signing of the Belfast Agreement and his subsequent political actions. No one voted against the motion last Saturday but there were several abstentions.
The motion to disaffiliate from the UUP was passed but not before some members had voiced dissension.
The UUP and the Grand Lodge of Ireland will hold negotiations on the future relationship between the two organisations within the next few weeks.
A spokesman for the order said the UUP requested a meeting before last weekend's decisions by the Co Antrim lodges.
A UUP spokesman confirmed that a restructuring of the party was being considered and that a "separation or a redefining of the link with the Orange Order" was also being considered.
The matter was an "internal" one and not one of the party's central priorities, he said.
A UUP commission set up to consider possible streamlining of the party is being led by Mr Josias Cunningham and includes Mr David Brewster and Mr James Cooper.
A UUP source said they represented "all sides of the argument" on the future link between the party and the loyal orders. The Orange Order has yet to confirm its representative at negotiations.