Orangemen must accept that future negotiations aimed at breaking the Drumcree deadlock may result in parades being banned from the contested route, it was said last night (Sunday).
As the annual Drumcree parade passed off peacefully yesterday, the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition, GRRC, said it was prepared to enter into a "genuine process" aimed at resolving the standoff.
But GRRC spokesman Breandan Mac Cionnaith said any negotiations could not be based on a predetermined outcome.
"I am not optimistic if the Orange Order keeps coming forward with proposals that entail marching first, then possibly talking later," he said.
"But we are prepared to enter into a genuine process that is not based on a predetermined outcome. Residents must be prepared to accept that an outcome could be a march down the Garvaghy Road. The Orange Order must also enter the process knowing that one of the outcomes could be no march on the Garvaghy Road."
Mr Mac Cionnaith added that he was pleased that the contentious parade had passed off without incident.
As the march made its way past St John the Baptist church at the top of the blocked-off Garvaghy Road, there was no repeat of the angry exchanges of previous years.
"There were years when the Mass here would have been disrupted because, instead of marching along the route, they stopped outside the church and tried to break through the barrier," Mr Mac Cionnaith said.
SDLP deputy leader Brid Rodgers, a prominent figure in previous Drumcree standoffs, said while the parade had passed off without incident there was still a need to resolve the Drumcree dispute.
"I've never seen it this quiet. I think that people realise that this is a nonsense, it is going nowhere and people have realised it is time they got a bit of common sense," she said.
"All the people coming out of the chapel are going home. Four of five years ago they would have been staying here wondering what was going to happen. The media hype around proposals was less than helpful. People need to find a way of sitting around the table if they want to resolve this matter."
Nationalist residents, as in previous years, chose to stay away from the barricade on Drumcree Road as Orangemen began their return route.
Police Chief Superintendent Jonathan McIvor, who accepted a letter of protest at the barricade, paid tribute to the Orange Order's dignified protest.
"The marshalling was very effective and I pay tribute to the marchers and the organisation that the Orange Order put into the protest at the barrier," he said.
Assistant Chief Constable Stephen White said he was pleased that people had acted responsibly.
"I said before this operation that success would look something like this. That there would be no law-breaking, that there would be a law-abiding protest, that policing would be proportionate and everyone would get home safe," he said.
"Security is not the answer to this problem. But last year there were those who criticised us for not enough security, so it is always about getting the right balance. I think we have got the balance, not just this year but last year also.
"The key difference this year, I believe, is that people took responsibility for the people that they have here."
