The Bogside residents and the Apprentice Boys of Derry have met to discuss the December parade in the city. Yesterday's meeting was due to take place in September but was brought forward after last weekend's rioting.
The meeting was the first between the sides since violent clashes between police and nationalist youths caused serious damage to the centre of the city early on Sunday.
Mr Adam Ingram, the North's Minister of State, said yesterday that the Northern Ireland Compensation Agency had estimated the cost of the damage at about £4.26 million and described the violence as "beneath contempt".
"It is appalling and beyond reason that people should go out with the deliberate intention of wrecking their own city centre," Mr Ingram said.
In Belfast at least three banks were destroyed by rioters and a number of shops were looted in the violence which flared following disturbances in the city's Ormeau Road over an Apprentice Boys feeder parade.
"At a time when a great deal of work is going into creating jobs and prosperity in the area, this kind of wanton destruction is a direct attack on the livelihood and future of the whole community in Derry," Mr Imgram added.
"The people of Northern Ireland have made it absolutely clear that violence - all violence - is part of the past.
"It must not be allowed to stain the future."
In Stormont yesterday a delegation of Portadown Orangemen met the North's new Political Development Minister, Mr George Howarth, as efforts continued to break the Drumcree impasse.
A spokesman for the Northern Ireland Office said the talks were aimed at following through on the process started by the British Prime Minister's chief-of-staff, Mr Jonathan Powell.
"As this is the first meeting with the Portadown lodge there is an element of getting to know you," he added.
Mr Steven McLaughlin, the County Secretary of the Co Armagh Grand Orange Lodge, said the delegation had briefed Mr Howarth on the ongoing dispute with the nationalist residents of the Garvaghy Road.
Yesterday's talks between residents and the Apprentice Boys in Derry lasted for less than an hour and were chaired by the town centre management committee. The participants have agreed to meet again in September.
Mr Donnacha MacNiallais, spokesman for the nationalist residents, welcomed the restart of the process of dialogue.
"It will remove a lot of the pressures that have been building on both sides in terms of arriving at an accommodation which everyone is agreed the people of this city want and deserve," he told BBC Radio Ulster.
"We also agree that a Parades Commission determination is not a resolution of the problem.
"Agreement between both sides accepted by the vast majority of people on this city is required. We need to create an environment where the scenes of last Saturday are not repeated."
The co-chairman of the talks, Mr Garbhan O'Doherty, a Derry businessman, said the violence, which occurred during last week's counter-demonstration at the passing of an Apprentice Boys parade through the Diamond area, had concentrated minds.
"Violence is unacceptable, it is unwelcome and it must be eliminated, so therefore we must prepare the ground now for a final solution to this issue,["] he said.
The Apprentice Boys declined to comment on the meeting. Additional reporting from PA