The Parades Commission has ruled against the Apprentice Boys marching on Belfast's Lower Ormeau Road on Easter Monday, but indicated that at least one parade would be allowed down the road this year.
In its first decision on a disputed march, the commission said it welcomed recent moves aimed at a settlement, especially from the Apprentice Boys. However, it suggested more needed to be done to create the "necessary atmosphere of sensitivity and tolerance." In the meantime, it was prohibiting the Easter Monday march from crossing Ormeau Bridge.
The statement concluded: "The best way forward in terms of relieving inter-community tensions arising from disputes at this location is that the ground should be prepared for one or more parades to take place in a peaceful atmosphere along the Lower Ormeau Road in 1998."
The Apprentice Boys said they were "bitterly disappointed" by the ruling, while the Lower Ormeau Concerned Community group welcomed it as "the only decision that could have been reached". But an LOCC spokesman said the ruling did nothing to change its "total lack of confidence" in the commission.
Explaining the background to its ruling, the commission balanced the long tradition of parades on the Ormeau Road with the history of public disorder caused by the marches.
Commission chairman Mr Alistair Graham said he was encouraged by the "changed atmosphere" in the Ormeau Road. He described the attitude of the Apprentice Boys as "positive" but notably declined to use the same term for the LOCC, when questioned.
In other reaction to the ruling, the Ormeau Road Charter for Change said the decision was regrettable, "but in the face of the ongoing threat of law-breaking and violence by republicans, understandable".
A legal challenge to overturn the recent appointment of four members to the Parades Commission has been adjourned until April 29th.
The action, in Belfast High Court, was brought by a resident of the Lower Ormeau Road who claimed that the Secretary of State, Dr Mo Mowlam, failed to comply with statutory requirements that members should be representative of the community and could be seen as independent and impartial.
