Taoiseach calls for dialogue to avert a crisis

The Taoiseach has appealed to the Orange Order and the Garvaghy Road residents to engage in dialogue to avert a crisis around the planned Drumcree parade next weekend.

Mr Ahern, who was in telephone contact with most of the Northern party leaders yesterday, said the Government had maintained "all winter that what is required in cases like this is that there be dialogue and compromise and understanding with each other."

The Government did not comment directly on the Parades Commission's decision to ban the parade from Garvaghy Road, except to say that it had been noted.

But the Taoiseach was said to be concerned at the consequences of another stand-off, and pledged the Government to do its utmost in the coming days to achieve a compromise.

Through his spokesman, Mr Ahern added: "If those directly involved - the loyal orders and the residents - could come to some accommodation, then perhaps the rest of us could be spared a lot of difficulty." He is expected to raise the issue today when he meets the British Prime Minister in Frankfurt.

Opposition parties took different stances on the parades commission ruling.

The Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, said the residents had won "a very important point." But he suggested they might now consider "if the overall interests of the agreement, and the broader nationalist interest in making the agreement work, would be served if there was a unilateral and uncalled-for gesture of generosity towards the Orange Order by nationalist residents."

This would show "real strength and confidence among nationalists at grassroots level", he said, adding: "An act of this kind may be what is needed to defuse a potentially destructive political and security situation."

However, the Democratic Left leader, Mr Proinsias De Rossa, urged all sides to accept the commission's ruling.

He acknowledged that many in the unionist community would be angered by the decision and said there was an obligation on both governments to defuse the tension.

"In particular, the Irish Government should urge people from the Republic not to go to Portadown over the weekend as the presence of non-residents will simply add to the tension and the dangers."