The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern and the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, met in London yesterday to consider the peace process and, more immediately, the threat of civil disorder which arises from next Sunday's planned Orange Order march at Drumcree. Both governments realise that the political talks planned for September will be deeply influenced by events during the marching season and that communal violence could seriously damage the prospects for a political settlement and lasting peace. For the past number of weeks, the efforts of the two governments have been concentrated on reaching a compromise acceptable to both communities at Drumcree. But, in the words of the Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Dr Mo Mowlam, those efforts have not yet borne fruit.
Following yesterday's meeting, Mr Ahern repeated the Government's view that it would be wrong to force the traditional march down the Garvaghy Road. But he also spoke of compromise and of the need to support the Northern Ireland Secretary of State in addressing the broader picture. There would be many more marches and many more difficulties ahead, the Taoiseach said, and they had to continue to develop the peace process so that people of both communities could live together in peace.
The Church of Ireland Primate, Dr Eames, has been passionate in his appeal for restraint and compromise. The problems the communities face in resolving these issues, he said, were but a cameo of the wider and deeper divisions within Northern Ireland. In a courageous and outspoken intervention, Dr Eames said he would not and could not contemplate attendance at a church service in Drumcree being used to confront the forces of law and order. Instead, he hoped that "dignity, mutual respect and the equal rights to march and to object may be exercised in ways that reflect the decency which has always characterised the vast majority of our people."
The confrontation which has developed on the Garvaghy Road in Portadown reflects the deep and bitter mistrust that now exists between the two communities. The march route has been transmuted into an important territorial symbol, involving the marking out of tribal rights. Last year's ban, followed by official capitulation to unionist civil unrest and violence, infuriated nationalists. It brought about widespread rioting, encouraged extremism and added significantly to Sinn Fein's support. This year, Catholic residents of the Garvaghy estate are adamant that the parade, no matter how modified or reduced, should not go ahead. On the other hand, extreme loyalist paramilitaries have threatened to murder Catholics in the Republic if it is stopped. Later today, Dr Mowlam will consult with the RUC Chief Constable, Mr Flanagan, and with the British Army authorities on the options available to her in the context of public safety. She has set her face against intimidation from either community and has spoken of the problem of competing rights: the right to march and to free assembly as against the right to personal security, free from intimidation. Unless one side or the other yields (thereby achieving moral victory on a grand scale) a partial rerouting of the march, with the imposition of specific conditions, may seem the least dangerous option.