THE Taoiseach has confirmed he will be talking "quite soon" to the British Prime Minister about the Apprentice Boys' march in Derry.
Speaking to journalists at Dublin Castle yesterday, Mr Bruton said he would be "urging that we should seek to find and facilitate local agreement to overcome this difficulty.
"We have got to recognise that, at the end of the day, neither community in Northern Ireland gains from confrontations of this kind."
Asked if he was worried by the lack of progress in the Northern talks process, Mr Bruton said no.
"It is important to make the point that the problem of community division in Northern Ireland that these talks are designed to heal - is a problem that has existed in one form or another for 300 years. There has been conflict between the two traditions in that part of Ireland for that length of time."
The conflict was a "very profound" one involving allegiance. That was not easy to overcome. However, the Government respected both traditions, both sets of allegiance.
"We regard both as having an equal and very strong historic and personal validity for the people that hold them. We want to see progress based on mutual respect," Mr Bruton said.
What had been agreed in the talks so far was a set of procedures for doing business which involved mutual respect for different points of view. "That, to my mind, represents a very substantial step forward," he said.
Another step forward was, the establishment of the Business Committee, which would begin work right away.
"Against the background of the problems that are here to be solved, I would be comparatively optimistic about what has been achieved so far in the talks."