THE Orange Order feels vindicated and it's all thanks to RTE. Allegations on Prime Time that Sinn Fein has infiltrated nationalist residents' groups have brought a smile to normally grim Orange faces.

"It took a Southern broadcasting station to give the facts about these so-called residents' associations and who is really behind them," said one Orangeman. "The truth is finally out and Sinn Fein won't be able to put the genie back in the bottle."

Sinn Fein and the groups deny the allegations and accuse RTE of "disreputable journalism". But who is telling the truth? Are these organisations independent and non-party-political or cleverly concealed Sinn Fein fronts? It's not a black-and-white matter.

The official spokesmen of most residents' groups are former republican prisoners. Breandan MacClonnaith of the Garvaghy Road Residents' Association in Portadown was convicted of possessing a firearm, false imprisonment, and hijacking. Gerard Rice of the Lower Ormeau Concerned Community group served four years for IRA membership and possession of a rifle. Donnacha MacNiallais of the Bogside Residents' Association in Derry is a former republican prisoner whose mother Mary is a Sinn Fein councillor.

The residents' groups have all demanded direct negotiations with the Orange Order and Apprentice Boys. Loyalists smell a rat. For if they sit around the table in Portadown or the Lower Ormeau with convicted republican paramilitaries to discuss a march, unionist politicians cannot logically refuse to sit around the table at Stormont with Sinn Fein to discuss the North's future.

Unionists believe the situation has been contrived to increase pressure for Sinn Fein's entry into talks. The residents' groups' appeal for dialogue dovetails with Sinn Fein's demand for all-party negotiations. But that doesn't mean they have been taken over by Sinn Fein.

Republicans naturally tend to be more active in the community than members of other political parties. Their rivals envy their youth, energy and enthusiasm. Republicans have taken over community organisations for their own advantage in the past but their involvement in protest movements is not necessarily part of a conspiracy every time.

Like Militant Tendency in 1980s Britain, which was accused of infiltrating anti-poll tax campaigns, republicans are usually just more active than their opponents.

In Dunloy, the residents' group is led by Paddy O'Kane whose brother is an SDLP councillor. He is hardly a Sinn Fein stooge and indeed Dunloy is more hardline than other areas. Despite his paramilitary past, Gerard Rice in the Lower Ormeau is generally acknowledged as someone whose first loyalty is to local people not any political party.

The Ormeau Road group has barred members of political parties from sitting on its committee. But opponents argue that this is meaningless as it is the informal links which count. Sinn Fein has bussed protesters into the Lower Ormeau; its leaders have taken part and exploited the stand-offs. But the protests have not been organised simply to promote it.

It is most definitely not the case that nationalists enjoyed loyalist marches until Sinn Fein told them to be offended. Opposition to Orange parades in the Lower Ormeau, for example, has it's roots in the UDA-killing of five Catholics in Sean Graham's bookie shop in 1992. Orangemen shouted paramilitary slogans as they passed the betting shop that year. Opposition to Orange marches came to be equated with asserting Catholics' right to exist.

The parades controversy fell into Sinn Fein's lap and the party has exploited it. Before September 1994, all attention had focused on the IRA campaign but now Sinn Fein was looking for other issues.

The leadership realised that opposing Orange marches would give its grassroots something to do and fill the void created by the ceasefire.

Unionist reaction to nationalist protests during the marching season has given Sinn Fein an international propaganda coup. The picture of violent loyalist mobs, intransigent Orangemen, and beleaguered Catholic residents is a republican dream come true.

The residents' demand for equal respect for their rights sits well with Sinn Fein's call for parity of esteem. The activities of the residents' groups, even unintentionally, keeps the North's pot boiling without the IRA firing a

Sinn Fein has warmly praised the residents' groups and broadly approves of their political direction. That is not to say the residents' groups don't make their own decisions. And the door is open to the SDLP and others to become involved in the campaigns.

Sinn Fein and the IRA have taken control of the street protests when they became too militant. Senior members of the Belfast Brigade prevented young men from attacking the RUC in the Lower Ormeau. Republican Sinn Fein has condemned "the Provisionals' attempts to police the community".

Some residents are Sinn Fein supporters; many have no strong political loyalties. Some oppose loyalist parades as part of a strategy to smash the Orange Order; others want the right to say who marches past their homes.

"It would be naive to suggest that Sinn Fein doesn't have some input," says one political observer. "But the residents' groups are still largely representative of the feeling in their communities. If they didn't have support, they wouldn't survive."