IAN PAISLEY, the DUP leader, tried to stop the head of the Orange Order issuing a statement ruling out round- table talks with residents’ groups in nationalist areas.

The order’s grand lodge is deeply divided by comments made by Robert Saulters, its grand master, in which he called for an end to dialogue with “Sinn Fein/IRA-backed residents’ groups”. The statement was published on Friday without the prior approval of several senior members of its ruling body. Several unionist politicians, including Paisley, attempted to get it stopped.

Talks involving the order and nationalist residents, chaired by the Londonderry Chamber of Commerce, led to a breakthrough that will allow the order to march on the west bank of the city for the first time since 1992. There were also talks in west Belfast involving William Mawhinney, the order’s district master, and Sean Murray, a prominent republican from Springfield Road.

Order members who took part in the talks insist they did not breach grand lodge policy and that the officer board was aware of the negotiations.

Several senior Orangemen said talks should continue this week, where appropriate. “We appreciate that Bobby Saulters was under serious pressure from certain quarters to condemn the discussions, but we won’t allow him to scupper our chances of holding marches,” said one Orangeman.

Meanwhile, a Presbyterian minister who took part in the Derry discussions said yesterday he was appalled at Saulters’s comments. Dr Joseph Fell told BBC Radio Foyle that local Orangemen had been “responsible, realistic and courageous”.

The controversial talks with Springfield Residents, first revealed on Thursday, are said to have the solid support of the Grand Orange Lodge of Belfast. It had been hoped that the Derry model, chaired by the businessman Garvan O’Doherty, could work for other contentious parades.

The Parades Commission is due to rule tomorrow on a series of contentious parades in Belfast and Portadown. Determinations are expected on parades planned for the Springfield Road and the Ardoyne march in Belfast on July 12. A ruling is also due on the proposed Orange march at Drumcree next Sunday.

Meanwhile, a compromise on the Ardoyne parade proposed by residents, which would have allowed the outward morning march to go ahead, in return for cancelling the evening return leg, was yesterday dismissed by the area’s MP, Nigel Dodds.

Two weeks ago nationalist youths stoned an approved Tour of the North parade as it was passing the Ardoyne. Dodds said that the Orange Order should not be further “punished” by having their Twelfth parades curtailed.

“I’ve seen the CCTV footage and it is clear the marchers weren’t involved in any clashes. The commission can’t now punish loyalists for their good behaviour,” he said.

Sinn Fein in Ardoyne said that the residents’ compromise could prevent drink-fuelled incidents on the evening of the Twelfth. “It’s a sensible suggestion,” said Gerry Kelly, the North Belfast assemblyman.

The Parades Commission and the PSNI are particularly keen to ensure that the breakthrough in Derry is not tarnished by events elsewhere. There are continuing, behind-the-scenes efforts to strike deals in both Belfast and Portadown. O’Doherty, who chaired the Derry talks, said other areas could learn from the model there.

Both sides in Derry made substantial concessions. The Bogside Residents dropped all objections and threatened protests to the parade, while in turn the Orange Order reduced the proposed numbers coming into the west bank from 15,000 to 3,000. The parade will also begin at midday and return to the Waterside by 2pm — considerably earlier than had originally been proposed.

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