AS negotiators try to broker a compromise over tomorrow's controversial Orange parade at Drumcree Co Armagh, Cardinal Cahal Daly warned that another violent stand off could threaten the relative peace.
Garvaghy Road Residents' Association initiated a High Court action yesterday to compel the Northern Secretary, Sir Patrick Mayhew, to re route the Orangemen away from the nationalist area. The hearing has been adjourned until this morning.
The RUC has delayed making a decision until today on whether the march should be re routed.
The High Court case was postponed until today, pending that RUC decision.
The RUC Deputy Chief Constable, Mr Ronnie Flanagan, who has responsibility for policing the event, postponed making a decision yesterday, in the hope that a compromise could be achieved.
"I am not confident that a compromise can be reached," he admitted. "Garvaghy Road is a microcosm of the entire problem in Northern Ireland and it is not. easily reconcilable."
While the Orange Order and the Garvaghy Residents' Association maintained diametrically opposed positions last night, Cardinal Cahal Daly warned of the dangers of a stand off.
"I appeal to all concerned to ask themselves whether insistence, on a certain route or, as the case may be, objecting to that route, is worth putting at risk the fragile peace which we presently enjoy," he said.
Statements from Portadown Orangemen and Garvaghy residents, however, pointed to little hope of compromise.
"We recognise that the campaign of opposition to Orange parades is an orchestrated attempt. to heighten tension and ultimately to remove any vestiges of a Protestant presence from specific areas," Portadown Orangemen said in a statement.
Mr Breandan MacCionnaith, of the Garvaghy Residents' Association, said: "We want to make it clear, we are committed to holding our peaceful demonstration, and we will not yield to threats".
