Dublin, Ireland, Jul 9, 2007 / 09:14 am
Catholics in Portadown, Northern Ireland, are skeptical about the call for talks, issued by the major Protestant brotherhood, the Orange Order.
The Orange Order called for negotiations with Catholics after police restricted one of the group's major public marches through Portadown for the 10th straight year.
“We are committed to face-to-face talks under an independent chairman, with no preconditions. All options are open,” Portadown Orange leader Darryl Hewitt reportedly told the press.
Since Northern Ireland's foundation as a predominantly Protestant part of the United Kingdom in 1921, the Catholic minority has criticized the summertime tradition of Orange parades designed to intimidate and insult them.