Much has been said and written in the past few days about an imminent solution to the Drumcree dispute, undoubtedly the single most contentious march afflicting our community.
The dispute has been a source of community strife, death, injury and destruction down through the past decade.
It has been difficult to ascertain just what this 'solution' is supposed to be but it would appear that it would involve a march down the disputed part of the route, the Garvaghy Road, and an Orange Order commitment to address the concerns of residents in future years.
In fact much the same solution that residents claim was reneged on after the parade of 1995.
Much of the bitterness surrounding Drumcree in following years has stemmed from what the residents contend was that breach of faith and it has been compounded by the Orange Order refusal to engage in face-to-face talks with the Garvaghy residents.
To present what is in essence the same solution almost a decade later was always going to be a hard sell to a suspicious residents' group.
It was not going to be made any easier by the fact that there have still been no face-to-face negotiations.
Any attempt to solve the many parades disputes afflicting our community has to be handled with care and must involve all sides of the argument if it is to hold a reasonable chance of success.
This has obviously not been the case in reaching this proposed solution.
The Orange Order have not talked with the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition.
in fact, despite much talk of an intermediary, it would appear that they were not consulted about this latest solution until it became a fait accompli.
It is rather ironic that David Trimble accuses the residents group of refusing to talk when it has been the publicly stated position of the Orange Order, of which Mr Trimble is a member, that it will not talk to such groups.
If Mr Trimble is now saying that the order will indeed talk to residents groups that is indeed a step forward and worthy of consideration.
Most people will appreciate that negotiations to solve this long-running dispute are of necessity conducted in confidentiality to give them the best chance of success.
It would appear however that the Orange Order proposal is being leaked on a slow drip.
If this is the order's official proposal surely it is time to make public exactly what it wants and what it is prepared to do.
