THE former Taoiseach, Mr Albert Reynolds, said yesterday he believed that the events at Drumcree had caused "long-term damage" to the peace process and the relationship between the British and Irish governments.
Speaking on BBC1's Breakfast With Frost programme, Mr Reynolds said the "worst fears" of the nationalist community in Northern Ireland had been borne out at Drumcree and that it would take some considerable time for the rifts to heal.
"I think there is long-term damage and I would like to think it's only short-term damage but I think the worst fears of nationalism have been borne out in that when the crunch came, the security forces were seen to capitulate to mass intimidation, to threats of violence and finally got their way, and the British government were seen to capitulate to mob rule."
"After all, Northern Ireland was brought to a standstill for about five days where people couldn't get out of their homes or go to work. I mean this is not an acceptable situation in any democracy," he said.
Mr Reynolds refused to say if he believed that the British government's insistence that the decision to allow the Orangemen to march was taken solely by the Chief Constable of the RUC, Sir Hugh Annesley, but argued that in his experience "decisions of such magnitude" were never taken without advice from ministers.
"Who made what or who said what when is not for me to say, I am not in a position to say that except to say that very, very severe damage has been done to the whole process and that the question of equality of treatment and a fair deal for everybody, that was promised along the way and indeed has been promised since 1985, since the Anglo-Irish Agreement, is certainly seen by the nationalists not to be forthcoming," he said.
After acknowledging that the prospects of a British general election might slow down the talks progress in Northern Ireland, Mr Reynolds said he hoped that the British government would not move closer towards the unionists' position because of Mr Major's slender majority.
He added that it was essential for progress to be made when the talks process resumed on September 9th and for both governments to restore confidence in it.
"There has to be confidence in the talks process. It's not there at the moment. It has to be injected in there for a realistic restoration of the ceasefire which I think can be done, must be done and must is a great master," he said.