A MEETING between Dr Mo Mowlam and Portadown Orangemen on Friday night - and a late intervention by Mr David Trimble on Saturday - have emerged as key elements in the decision to permit yesterday's march down the Garvaghy Road.
The Secretary of State is understood to have travel led to Brownlow House, Lurgan, at around II p.m. on Friday for a crunch meeting with some 120 officers from the Portadown Orange District.
Sources say Dr Mowlam received a standing ovation upon her arrival - and again, on her departure, shortly after midnight - despite the order's rejection her appeal for a compromise solution.
Dr Mowlam made what one source termed "an emotional plea" to the Orangemen to take "the high moral ground" offered by the so-called McCartney plan. In return the Secretary of State is believed to have suggested a package of measures including changes in public order legislation enacted after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement; some variation in the proposed powers of the Parades Commission; and new provision to enshrine the right of citizens to demonstrate ethnic or cultural allegiance.
However, Dr Mowlam and the Security Minister, Mr Adam Ingram, left more than an hour later having been told trenchantly that the Portadown Orangemen would not waive their right to march.
Mr Trimble's potentially crucial intervention came some 18 hours later, as the conviction grew in Garvaghy Road and elsewhere that the parade would not be allowed to take its planned route.
The 6 p.m. discussion between Mr Trimble and Dr Mowlam, sought by the UUP leader, apparently left a serious question mark over his party's continued involvement in the talks process, in the event of a decision to ban or re-route the Portadown parade.
Senior unionist sources last night insisted that no explicit threat was made, while confirming that Dr Mowlam "would know that his (Mr Trimble's) position would be difficult if not impossible" had the decision gone against the Portadown Orangemen.
Meanwhile, in an atmosphere thick with intrigue and accusations of bad faith and double-dealing, there were unconfirmed reports last night that the Secretary of State and the RUC Chief Constable, Mr Ronnie Flanagan, had disagreed on their approach to the march early on Saturday morning.
One source heavily involved in the negotiations claimed that the RUC chief at that stage favoured a total ban of the Drumcree march, an action which would have required the decision of the Secretary of State.