Tom Elliott, Ulster Unionist MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, has called on Martin McGuinness MLA to use his position to get lasting resolutions to disputes over parades in Portadown and North Belfast rather than engaging in empty gesture politics.

Mr Elliott said:

“So Martin McGuinness would “give serious consideration” to attending the Twelfth of July celebration! That suggestion might have credibility if the deputy First Minister was to play a positive role to bring about a resolution to allow the Orangemen to walk a small distance home at Portadown and North Belfast.

“How can you expect the Orange Order to have any confidence in what Martin McGuinness has to say when his own Party Leader, Gerry Adams, has openly gloated about the role that they played in choreographing protests against the Orange Order in places right across Northern Ireland.

“In 1997 Gerry Adams said: “Ask any activist in the north, ‘did Drumcree happen by accident?’, and he will tell you, ‘no’. Three years of work on the lower Ormeau Road, Portadown and parts of Fermanagh and Newry, Armagh and in Bellaghy and up in Derry. Three years of work went into creating that situation and fair play to those people who put the work in. They are the type of scene changes that we have to focus on and develop and exploit.”

“Given Sinn Fein`s prominent role in creating the situations which have sown community discord, the senior Sinn Fein comrade should concentrate on attempting to get resolutions to long standing disputes rather than engaging in empty gesture politics. If he did that, some people might find his sentiments more believable. He could do with starting in Ardoyne and Portadown and use his influence to attain a lasting resolution.”