NATIONALISTS on the Garvaghy Road are feeling 'uneasy' with a possible deal on the Drumcree march rumoured to be linked to the ongoing talks on the devolution of policing and justice.
The British and Irish governments will publish their own proposals today (Friday) with all-party talks at Stormont and Hillsborough Castle yet to yield a breakthrough.
It has been suggested that disputed parades like Drumcree could be solved by fo
llowing the so-called 'Derry Model', where the Apprentice Boys and Bogside residents reached a deal on the annual parade around the city walls.
However, Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition leader Breandan Mac Cionnaith insisted this model was "unworkable" in the Portadown context and he is supported by SDLP MLA Dolores Kelly. She said the Londonderry situation was totally different to Portadown, as the mooted Drumcree parade was through a contested residential area rather than a commercial area in the centre of Derry.
Mr Mac Cionnaith said, "Since the return parade to Portadown was re-routed away from the Garvaghy Road in 1998, our community - and the wider Portadown community - has enjoyed successive peaceful summers.
"The cloud of humiliation and fear, tension and violence and the physical sieges of our community which accompanied these sectarian marches have also disappeared. Over 18-months ago, an overwhelming majority of local residents signed a petition for a less contentious route along the Corcrain and Dungannon Roads."
He claimed the Government proposed the 'Derry Model' for Portadown, "but then withdrew the proposals as "unworkable, as it would have favoured the Orange lobby and placed Portadown nationalists at a disadvantage".
Mrs Kelly claimed that handing decision-making on contentious parades to district councils as Lord Ashdown proposed would be a retrograde step.
She added, "What Craigavon council might make of Drumcree doesn't bear thinking about. For all its weaknesses and faulty decisions, the Parades Commission broke the vicious circle.
"If Gerry Adams seriously thinks the 'Derry Model' can provide an alternative, then he has totally misunderstood its nature. The 'Derry Model' deals with a parade through a city-centre business district and would be totally inadequate for a parade through a residential area such as the Garvaghy Road."
Portadown Orange District Officer David Jones again highlighted how the District's repeated request for face-to-face talks with Garvaghy Road Residents was still being refused.
"All we are asking is face-to-face talks - without any preconditions - to find a resolution," he said. "I heard Sinn Fein's Gerry Kelly saying in television that the Orange Order would not speak to residents, but here in Portadown the opposite is, in fact, what's happening."
