"We are here because of failure. Every time we have to impose conditions on a parade it reflects failure: the failure of people to find a way to move forward from entrenched positions which have led to past conflict and confrontation".
Alistair Graham was speaking at the news conference to announce the Parades Commission's ruling on next Sunday's Orange march to and from Drumcree Church. He laid a heavy responsibility on all those with an interest in the decision; the organisers of the march, the residents of Garvaghy Road, politicians, church leaders and finally the media "to weigh your words and advice with care".
The full text of the Parades Commission's ruling makes instructive and not wholly depressing reading.
It gives the background in great detail, going back to the Plantation and to the massacre of Protestants in Portadown in l641, to explain why this is a particularly difficult anniversary and one of great importance to the Protestant community.
Outlining the reasons for the Commission's decision, the chairman was critical of both sides. But he seemed to speak more in sorrow than in anger, recognising the narrowness of the ground and the lack of space available to those who inhabit it.
The Orange Order had "not faced up to their responsibility to engage with the community who will be affected by their parade". The residents, on the other hand, had "not recognised the importance of the issue of free speech and have not been sufficiently creative in pursuing a process of engagement".
The ruling itself lays out just how close a resolution could be if (and of course the "if" is crucial) one side or the other could be persuaded to take the step that would break the deadlock. Can anything be done, even at this eleventh hour, to bring about an outcome which satisfies honour on both sides?
A number of stratagems are being discussed. The most hopeful would be for David Trimble and Seamus Mallon, as the First Minister and Deputy First Minister of the new Assembly, to meet both sides to try and broker a deal. Even their being seen to do this would soften the mood in the broader community. Trimble has gone some way along the road with his open letter to the residents.
The alternatives proposed by the Parades Commission would involve a climbdown by one side or the other, but the prize, in terms of public relief and applause, might be seen to outweigh the cost. The residents could agree to a strictly controlled return march along Garvaghy Road, limited in numbers and silent. If they desired, they could mount a peaceful protest as the marchers passed.
Alternatively the Orange Order could decide to return from the little church at Drumcree along the route they took to arrive at it, again making a peaceful protest if they so wished.
At the moment the possibility that either of these solutions will be agreed seems optimistic. And yet, if one group were to seize the moral high ground, it would be praised across the world for its courage and earn the gratitude of the entire community in Northern Ireland. That is what happened last year when the Orange Order pulled back from confrontation over the July 12th marches.
This year, with the Belfast Agreement still such a sickly infant politically, such a gesture would be hailed as historic. One proposal that has been put forward, by the Irish News in Belfast, is that the Garvaghy Road residents, having won the argument in the Parades Commission's ruling, might now feel able to make a one-off gesture and allow the Orangemen to march.
This would not only satisfy honour on both sides but "would make a massive contribution toward the cause of peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland".
If Sinn Fein were seen to have played a role in helping to bring this about, it would greatly increase the pressure on David Trimble to talk to the party and set up the new executive structures sooner rather than later.
Seamus Mallon has described Drumcree as "a local squabble in a small town", but the deputy leader of the SDLP has also said this little local difficulty has the potential to blow the peace process off course. That must not be allowed to happen.
The Belfast Agreement has demonstrated that the most fundamental political difference between the two communities can be bridged. We can see the difficulties that lie ahead: David Trimble's desperately precarious position, decommissioning, the timing of the setting up of the executive and so on.
But equally, it is becoming clearer that with good will and political courage these problems can be overcome. Most importantly, the overwhelming majority of the people of Northern Ireland want it to work and live in anticipation of the day when local quarrels like Drumcree are relegated to history.
What has been most striking about recent political developments in the North is that the nationalist community has become increasingly confident and assertive, while unionism is deeply demoralised and in disarray.
That puts a particularly heavy responsibility on both nationalist parties, the SDLP and Sinn Fein, to find ways of easing the bumpy route ahead for those unionists who back the agreement. It is only by increasing the unionist community's confidence in David Trimble's strategy that the Rev Ian Paisley and Bob McCartney will be effectively sidelined.
Senior members of the SDLP like Seamus Mallon have already indicated they are disposed to be generous in taking the Unionist Party leader's difficulties into account. But Gerry Adams also has to accept - and to make it clear - that he is in this project alongside David Trimble and that they can only make it succeed by co-operating. As the old saying goes, they had better hang together or they will assuredly hang separately.
It is in this broader context that we have to watch what happens next weekend at Drumcree. On the one hand, it is important to keep it in proportion. If the worst happens and there is violent confrontation, then it is important that we see this as comparatively isolated, a wretched hangover from the past which must not cloud our hopes for a better future.
On the other, every effort must be made up to the last minute to try and broker a compromise. The very name of Drumcree now has a symbolic importance because the quarrel over the route symbolises everything from which the people of Northern Ireland want to escape. A peaceful solution acceptable to both sides would provide enormous encouragement to all those who want to move forward from the entrenched positions of the past.