Garvaghy residents 'refuse to meet Portadown Orangemen'
Nationalist residents in Portadown have reportedly refused to meet the local Orange Order to discuss this year's contentious Drumcree parade.
Church of Ireland Archbishop Robin Eames reportedly brokered a deal to bring the two sides together for talks, but unnamed sources told the Press Association news agency that the residents of the Garvaghy Road backed out of the meeting.
Breandan McCionnaith, a spokesman for the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition, denied the claim and said there had been no mediation effort since South African broker Brian Curtin left the North in 2001.
The Orange Order had previously refused to meet the nationalist residents, accusing them of being a front for the IRA.
Because of this refusal, the North's Parades Commission has banned Orangemen from marching down the Garvaghy Road as part of the annual Drumcree parade every year since 1998, provoking clashes between loyalists and police.
