British MPs today appealed to Orangemen to enter the decision-making process for parades to avert another summer of civil disturbances in Northern Ireland.
The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee proposal was welcomed by leading Orangeman Mr William Thompson who said the problems between the Orange Order and Parades Commission would have to be ironed out sooner or later.
The committee recommended the Loyal Order should set down ways it believed would open up possible direct engagement with the commission, which has been adjudicating on parades since 1998.
The move would be "a useful first step", the committee said in its second report into the workings of the commission.
Mr Thompson, a member of the committee and MP for West Tyrone, said loyalists needed indications the commission was not intrinsically biased against them and would not back down to the threat of violence from nationalists opposed to parades.
Mr Thompson's comments and the committee's proposal follow signals by the Grand Master of the Orange institution, Mr Robert Saulters, that members of the Order may be prepared to lift their ban on talking to the committee.
The first disputed parade of the year - a march on Belfast's Nationalist Lower Ormeau Road on Easter Monday - has been adjudicated in favour of the Apprentice Boys marchers.
The decision has provoked a furious response from the Lower Ormeau Concerned Community - the campaign group opposed to the marches.
PA