Northern Ireland’s Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has called for “cool heads” as marching season begins.

The Parades Commission has banned the Orange Order from marching in the Ardoyne area of Belfast on July 12. In response to the decision the DUP and Ulster Unionists withdrew from all party talks at Stormont on parades and flags.

McGuinness said, "This is a time for people to be calm, for cool heads and for all of us to recognise that this is a very difficult situation."

McGuiness also said there are "very severe difficulties within the political process” in Northern Ireland “which emanates from the refusal of unionism and loyalism to accept and respect the determination of a lawfully constituted body, the Parades Commission".