Row over march comments

The DUP member of the working group set-up by the Hillsborough Agreement to deal with parades said comments made by the Sinn Fein leader were 'distinctly unhelpful' and appeared 'off-message from his own colleagues'.

In a newspaper interview Adams said he would sit on the road and protest if a march was ever allowed on the Garvaghy Road without the agreement of the residents.

Mr Moutray, himself an Orangeman, said the idea that one group could tell another they were not welcome on a particular road was 'cultural apartheid'.

He said: "Regardless of Mr Adams's comments, the working group will continue in its task of bringing forward a new structure to deal with parading."

He claimed the Portadown Orange Order had offered to meet with concerned residents but had been refused in the past.

In an interview with The Irish News Mr Adams said: "Unless the people of Garvaghy Road invite the Orangemen to mach up the road, there won't be any parade and if there was a parade against the wishes of the people, I would be sitting with them in the middle of the road - and I am someone who wants to reach out to the Orange and wants to see the contention taken out of all of this."