Portadown Orange spokesman Mr David Jones said yesterday that before they have face-to-face talks with Garvaghy Road residents there must be agreement that the order can walk down the Garvaghy Road. Such agreement could be established through an intermediary.
Once that had been done, Portadown Orangemen would meet with the Garvaghy residents to discuss the walk before it took place. Agreement on future walks could be dealt with through a community forum, which would also deal with broader matters of common concern to both communities in Portadown.
He also said Portadown District officers had been in contact with British government officials again yesterday about proposals for a resolution to the Drumcree impasse which they submitted two weeks ago.
Meanwhile, all was quiet at Drumcree yesterday, with barricades removed from around St John's Catholic church in the morning and traffic travelling unhindered through gates in the barrier at the bottom of Drumcree hill. There was a small security presence.
Mr Jones did "not exactly" agree with a comment by Mr Breandán MacCionnaith of the Garvaghy residents' group that the Orangemen hadn't changed their position and were still proposing the same "walk first, then talk" policy of the past. They were now proposing to talk to the residents before they walked, albeit following an agreement that the walk would take place.
He said this was "not a precondition at all. If anyone is insisting on preconditions it is him (Mr MacCionnaith) by insisting there'll be no preconditions."
Rev John Pickering, rector of Drumcree, said he was "very pleased the same atmosphere of peace and calm that prevailed at the service of worship" on Sunday continued outside.
The Church of Ireland Primate, Archbishop Robin Eames, paid tribute to the Orangemen for the organisation of Sunday's march. He appealed for "definite progress" towards a resolution to the impasse "long before July of next year".
