Orange order want expression of regret from Sinn Féin

The Orange Order leadership will not meet Sinn Féin until republicans express regret for their part in the Troubles, the organisation said today.

The comments from a senior member of the Order come after it emerged Orangemen from the Portadown area held a secret meeting with Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams to discuss their controversial Drumcree parade.

Today large numbers of Orange Order members and supporters are gathering for a controversial march in west Belfast.

The Sinn Féin president faced criticism from nationalist and republican quarters when it emerged this week that he had held a private meeting with Portadown Orangemen – a development that until recently would have seemed impossible.

The Drumcree marching dispute came to prominence in the mid 1990s when the Catholic community on the Garvaghy Road objected to the parade.

The Orange Order staged mass protests at the site which sparked annual bouts of serious violence around the North.

Tensions have eased around the issue in recent years, but the dispute remains unresolved.

Mr Adams said he told Portadown Orange Order members he believed there was no argument to justify the parade going ahead, while the marchers said the meeting demonstrated their willingness to engage in talks to resolve the dispute.

However, the news of the meeting, which took place on Wednesday of last week but only became public in recent days, drew a cautious response from the Order’s ruling Grand Lodge which expressed concerns over what it described as clandestine meetings.

Today Orange Order Grand Secretary Drew Nelson said the organisation’s leadership would not be prepared to follow the example of its Portadown Brethren and meet Sinn Féin until the party acknowledged the impact of republican violence on Orangeism.

“As an organisation we had over 300 members murdered by the republican movement during the Troubles,” he told BBC.

“If there is going to a fresh start in Northern Ireland I think we have to hear those words of sorrow and regret from the leadership of Sinn Féin.”

The Orange Order’s Whiterock parade will today cross a peace line dividing Protestant and Catholic communities on the Springfield Road in west Belfast.

Following objections from nationalist residents, only 50 marchers will be allowed to walk the disputed section of their preferred route.

Elected representatives from across the religious divide have issued a joint statement appealing for calm at the event.