Despite marathon negotiations in 2014 between the political parties in the North chaired by Richard N. Haass; United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland and talks vice-chairman Professor Meghan O’Sullivan, the parties failed to reach a consensus on the seventh and final set of proposals. Sinn Féin, the SDLP and the Alliance Party, despite some reservations, were prepared to recommend to their respective ruling executives acceptance of the Haass proposals on flags, parades and the past. However, the make-up of the DUP delegation ensured no such agreement was ever a likelihood.
Given the toxic political atmosphere in the North, pandering to the extreme elements in unionism by co-opting the Rev Mervyn Gibson as a DUP delegate to the talks despite the fact that he is not a party member, was an appalling affront to accepted political discourse. It was a clear indication from the outset that the DUP would not accept any resolution from the Haass process which was unacceptable to the Orange Order. The Rev Gibson, a Presbyterian minister, Orange Order chaplain with no public mandate emerged as a controversial figure during the summer marching seasons blaming the Parades Commission, the Chief Constable, Catholics and nationalists for creating the parades crisis.
These unelected Orange Order politico-religious supremacists in pursuit of reminding nationalists, ad nauseam, of their subordinate role in the northern state must not be allowed to dictate Assembly policy or intimidate elected public representatives. For the Northern Assembly and the Parades Commission to bow to the bigoted and undemocratic demands of Orange Order bullies is tantamount to permitting the state to be governed according to the principles of sectarian mob-rule. Neither the nationalist community nor the rule of law should acquiesce to threats and intimidation, nor should they be subservient to Orange Order demands. Such methods of negotiating are an affront to accepted standards of dialogue between participants representing divided communities.
Can we take it that Mrs May and Mrs Foster will leave the Orange Order outside Downing Street while talks on supporting a minority government between the DUP and the Conservative Party are being held?. Failure to do so will make it likely that In the event of Arlene’s DUP and Theresa’s Tories agreeing to consummate their political marriage, it won’t be long before we hear the patter of Orange feet on Garvaghy Road?
re. “Can we take it that Mrs May and Mrs Foster will leave the Orange Order outside Downing Street while talks on supporting a minority government between the DUP and the Conservative Party are being held?.
6 of the 9 (male and therefore eligible) DUP MPs are members of the OO.
It’s long past time all this supremacist cac was stopped. If it’s culture ( allegedly ) then one day for marching would be more than sufficient but try that one out for size! Now if it was a cultural event it would be an enjoyable welcoming affair eagerly anticipated by all , a fleadh type festival…… its not , it’s a drunken bigoted display of sectarian supremacy neither relevant nor acceptable. 20-30,000 bigots holding 2 million people to ransom for months on end……ISIS springs to mind. Another thing getting out of hand is this Poppy charade…….Ok everyone has the unspoken right to honour their dead but the poppy is now used by the same nefarious elements to similarly tease and taunt their neighbours linking it to the loyalist murder machine including the UDR… is their any need to sport a poppy for a month or constantly accost and cajole people into buying one?
Eolach
Isis springs to mind? Nice bit of hyperbole.
Perhaps, Gio if a spotlight was shone on the OO , and a proper piece of investigative journalism was carried out, not the usual wishy-washy , nod and a wink pro-establishment tripe that’s served up here, you’d find quite a few similarities…… fundamentalism , extreme hatred of another religion, murder etc etc…. maybe not as extreme , but given the chance, who knows?
Eolach
There are problems with the OO and we all know about them but the comparison is ludicrous.
We could debate all day about the nature and history of the Orange, but the practical issues boil down to trouble with a small percentage of parades.
The rest are small groups of elderly men ambling to a church service.
That is not to minimise the harm done by the small percentage and the responsibility the organisation bears for that harm.
As to murder there have certainly been individual members who have committed murder, but I know of no suggestion that the organisation has deliberately planned or carried out any such activity (in modern times I should say, before anyone brings up the ‘peep o’ day boys’.
You know very well what ISIS are and what they are capable of so you must know that the Orange Order is no Isis.
When you are in the majority, both numerically and culturally, and you have the British government at your back plus the continuity RUC you can really do what you please.
fiosrach, I don’t agree with you – but ‘continuity RUC’ is a cracker(hadn’t heard it before)
I think that’s one of billy’s
the main problem with the OO is that it piggy-backs to political power on the backs of Unionists.
Let it form its own party, formulate its policy, stand candidates and canvass for votes like every other political party if it wants political power.
let Unionist parties convince voters of the benefits of the Union and stand candidates who are not members of the OO.
England should be embarrassed by it’s anti Catholic laws of succession. As long as that bigoted piece of legislation exists, the Orange Order will have it’s raison d’etre. They are the monkey to England’s organ grinder.