THE Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble, should seek consultation and avoid confrontation in the forthcoming marching season, the Tanaiste, Mr Spring, has said.
Speaking to reporters after meeting a delegation representing residents' groups from the North yesterday, Mr Spring also suggested that Mr Trimble's recent comments that Orangemen would walk down the Garvaghy Road again in 1997 were "highly provocative and should have been avoided".
The Government is to consider a request from the residents' organisations to send official observers to particularly contentious marches, he said.
Some of Mr Spring's parliamentary colleagues attended a number of last year's most controversial parades.
Meanwhile, Mr Spring said, contacts will also be made with unionist politicians, who will be asked by the Government to do everything they can to avoid confrontation. The handling of the marching season will also be discussed at the next meeting of the Anglo Irish Conference on March 5th, he said. "We want to do everything possible to avoid a repeat of Drumcree."
A spokesman for the Tanaiste said the purpose of yesterday's discussions was to hear the views of the residents' groups on the recommendations contained in the review by Sir Richard North of parades and marches.
It remained the Government's view that the core recommendation of the North Report - that an independent parades commission be established - should be acted upon without delay.
According to Mr Spring, the residents' groups had no objection to the Orange Order's historical right to march. But they must do so in a way that respected the rights of nationalists and not in a manner that was "effectively treading on the rights of others".
It was "vital" that Northern Ireland be given a breathing space from the annual cycle of confrontation on parades. He urged all sides to use the coming weeks as productively as possible to avoid a repeat of the "disastrous events of last year".
Meanwhile, Mr John Gormley of the Lower Ormeau Concerned Community group said after yesterday's discussions with the Tanaiste that in the short term, they wanted to see the North Report implemented. They also wished the Government to use its influence to get monitors in place where necessary.