'Give Up Garvaghy March': McGuinness

Portadown Orangemen should "make a gesture" to the residents of the Garvaghy Road and rescind their claim to walk through the nationalist area, Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness has said.

The North's Deputy First Minister said he believed it was "not too much to ask" that Loyal Orders withdrew demands to proceed with the highly contentious march.

Mr McGuinness's comments came after DUP Culture Minister Nelson McCausland accused Garvaghy Road residents of "cultural apartheid".

Mr McCausland, a long-standing Orangeman, along with two party colleagues this week entered deliberations with three Sinn Fein MLAs aimed at finding a solution to parading issues.

The discussions, an outcome of the Hillsborough justice agreement, are being presided over by Mr McGuinness and First Minister Peter Robinson.

Today this group will meet with SDLP delegates to gauge their views on handling controversial marches.

Speaking before discussions with the working group, nationalist Assemblywoman Dolores Kelly said the Portadown dispute should be resolved through local dialogue.

She said her party will push for the retention of the Parades Commission, an adjudicating body the DUP wants to see dissolved.

Mr McGuinness said a decision by Orangemen to reroute their Portadown march is "not too much to ask given the trouble we have seen on the Garvaghy Road".

However, Mr McCausland said nationalist resident could not "claim ownership of particular roads".

Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition spokesman Brendan MacCionnaith said Portadown Orders could take the same route back from the church as the one they take to get there.

"The right to freedom of assembly does not equate to an absolute right to march," he said.

Yesterday DUP members met with the Parades Commission.

Following the meeting, a spokesman for the Commission said it hopes that "all parties in Drumcree will see the merit of dialogue".

"We urge everyone in a position of influence to promote and encourage dialogue in Portadown and wherever parades are disputed," the spokesman added.

Portadown Lodges last walked the stretch of the Garvaghy Road in 1997.

(PR/BMcC)