Adams Meets With Portadown Orangemen

Garvaghy Road Parade Ban Continues

Orangemen will not be permitted to march down the Garvaghy Road in Portadown next month, the Northern Ireland Parades Commission has ruled.

The ruling follows the revelation that Orange Order members held a meeting with Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams.

Orangemen have been banned from parading down the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road since 1998.

The commission said the lodge's willingness to "engage in direct discussions was a significant advance."

The Orange Order's talks with Mr Adams took place last week at an undisclosed location.

Portadown district master Daryl Hewitt said there "had been a full and frank discussion."

The Grand Lodge of Ireland said they heard about the meeting through the media and while they understood the frustration of members in Portadown, they "did not believe clandestine meetings were in the best interests of the institution."

The meeting came after repeated requests by Mr Adams to meet with the Orange Order to discuss the issue of contentious parades.

In a statement last Thursday, Mr Adams said it was always the Sinn Féin position that the issue of parading could only be resolved through dialogue between the Loyal Orders and local communities.

"For a number of years I have written to the Orange Order offering dialogue around the issue of contentious parades.

"Recently representatives of the Portadown Orange sought to meet with me.

"I met with the delegation last week. We had an informative and useful discussion about Orangeism and its place in modern Ireland," he said.

"I also made it clear to them that it was our firm view that there is no rational for an Orange Parade along the Garvaghy Road.

"Furthermore I urged them to involve themselves in a process of inclusive dialogue with the representatives of the Garvaghy Road community," he concluded.