Hopes of a peaceful summer marching season in Northern Ireland grew tonight after an accommodation was reached over a highly contentious parade due to take place in North Belfast.
Dialogue between loyalist and nationalist groups over the Tour of the North Orange parade on Friday evening prompted the Parades Commission to announce it would make no ruling on the main parade or its feeder parades.
The parade has often sparked violence between marches and nationalist residents and set the tone for further trouble in the weeks following.
Ulster Unionist Party leader Sir Reg Empey welcomed the "significant" breakthrough. "It is a very significant step forward and creates a positive context over the Whiterock Parade the following week," he said.
Last year the Whiterock parade was postponed when the Parades Commission refused to allow Orangemen to follow their chosen route. When it did go ahead weeks later it sparked some of the worst street violence seen in Northern Ireland in recent years.
The Parades Commission said tonight it had heard from a joint delegation representing the loyalist North and West Belfast Parades Forum and the nationalist Ardoyne Parades Dialogue Group regarding the outcome of discussions facilitated by the commission.
Commission chairman Roger Poole said he was pleased to note the progress which had been made in the discussions and the emergence of an accommodation between the two sides in respect of the feeder parades associated with the Tour of the North parade. "We acknowledge that the discussions are at a very early stage and that the whole question of parades in north Belfast requires a long term and sustainable solution," Mr Poole said.
"Both sides in the area have committed their organisations to a prolonged process of dialogue which will continue into this summer and beyond. This is a significant commitment which the commission welcomes."