THE Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, said yesterday both she and the RUC Chief Constable, Mr Ronnie Flanagan, would live with whatever decision they made about next month's controversial parades at the Ormeau Road, Belfast, and at Garvaghy Road, Portadown.
Dr Mowlam made her comment after a meeting lasting an hour with the Bogside Residents' Group in Derry, during her latest round of meetings with residents' groups. Following the talks in the Derry City Council-owned Pilots Row Community Centre in the Bogside, Dr Mowlam said her private talks were productive and constructive.
She described the decision by priests in Harryville, near Ballymena, to postpone Saturday evening Mass until after the marching season as "a helpful gesture".
Dr Mowlam said she would continue to work until the last minute to find a solution to contentious parades, due to start next month. She said Sunday's events at Bellaghy, Co Derry, when loyalist and nationalist parades passed off peacefully, were constructive.
I am going to remain hopeful and continue working right up to the weekend to see what progress can be made. I think it's too early to be definitive but, of course, one will continue to try.
"I think that Bellaghy was, in a sense, a constructive result. Unfortunately, there had to be such a large police presence but, in the end, with the two groups having their rights protected to a certain extent, a kind of accommodation was reached and that's progress."
Asked when she would announce her decision on the parades in Belfast and Portadown, she said: "That is difficult to know. It is not totally my decision because we don't have the Parades Commission in place this year, although we will make sure the legislation is in place next year.
"It will be a decision of the Chief Constable and myself and I am sure we will decide and live with the same decision together. When that is decided, it is still too early to say. I think there is a value in trying to decide a day or two early if that is possible."