Orange Order leaders were tonight urged to follow through on suggestions that they could take part in the first face-to-face talks with nationalist residents over the annual parade at Drumcree.
SDLP and Sinn Féin Assembly members gave a cautious welcome to suggestions from Portadown Orangemen they could take part in dialogue with Garvaghy Road residents, with an independent chairman.
A spokesman for the lodge signalled they were prepared to enter a mediation process.
"Portadown District has always been willing to find a solution to the Garvaghy Road problem," he said. "We have intimated by letter to the Parades Commission that we are willing to enter a mediation process with an independent chairman.
"No meetings have taken place, but we are awaiting developments."
The return parade by Orangemen from the annual Battle of the Somme church service every July at Drumcree was the most controversial march in Northern Ireland for much of the 1990s and early part of this decade.
Nationalist residents objected to the return parade being forced through the mainly Catholic Garvaghy Road. When the parade was forced through there was rioting on the nationalist side.
But when Orangemen were barred from marching through the nationalist area, there was violence on their side. A ring of steel was thrown around the Garvaghy Road, and millions spent on razor wire, barricades and the deployment of police and Army personnel to prevent thousands of loyalists marching from Drumcree hill.
Orangemen have not succeeded in returning to Portadown town centre via the Garvaghy Road since 1998. The Order has so far refused throughout the marching dispute to meet the Garvaghy Road residents face to face.
A spokesman for Garvaghy Road residents said they had been told by the Parades Commission that dialogue may take place but they were still awaiting confirmation.
SDLP Assembly member Dolores Kelly and Sinn Féin MLA John O'Dowd said it had been clear for some time that face to face dialogue must take place.