Did you get to chat with Leo when he was up in Belfast a while back? Me neither, although I’m not sure what I’d have said. Perhaps “What brings you to Belfast?”
The occasion was the opening of Feile an Phobail in West Belfast. You’d never have thought that, given the way it was covered by the media. Time and again the news bulletins opened with Leo visiting the House of Orange. If I’d been a Feile organizer I’d have felt that the Orange Order had stolen my headline.
So why did Leo go to visit the Orange Order? “I cross the border as a neighbour, not an invader” Leo told the cameras. So was it another step on the long and winding road towards reconciliation? Certainly that’s how it was sold.
“I want to ensure a future where identity, in all its complexity, whether it’s Irish or British or Northern Irish, or all of these things, is respected and celebrated across the island,”
Hard to quarrel with that. The Orange Order is certainly a part of our history in Ireland. It behoves any Taoiseach to be in touch with history and the various directions different loyalties have taken our communities.
But of course there are things in our history which we are happy to consign to the past. The actions of the Black and Tans, the Glennane gang, the Shankill Butchers – these are part of our history but no one, I assume, would want to explore their point of view, treat them as neighbours who we’d failed to forge proper friendly relations with.
No political party in Ireland would express distaste for the Orange Order: on the contrary, nationalist and republican parties are keen to the point of falling over themselves to reconcile with the Orange brethren. And part of me approves of this. We can’t simply ignore the biggest Protestant organization in Ireland; it is indeed part of our history. The generally accepted view among nationalism and republicanism matches with the sentiments of An Taoiseach on Friday: we must learn more about this vast organization and stretch out the hand of friendship
So why, then, do some communities object to an Orange march, if, as the Taoiseach explained yesterday, they are part of our history? That’s easy. Because people in those areas see the marches as triumphalist, mocking and contemptuous of things Catholic and republican. Why else would statues of Our Lady and of republican politicians, not to mention the Irish tricolour, be burned on Eleventh Night bonfires year after tedious year?
In general terms we should seek to be reconciled with communities and organisations from whom we’ve become detached during the Troubles. But we also need to be clear-eyed about institutions like the Orange Order. We’re not talking about a boy-scout-type institution. The Orange Order was set up after a sectarian clash which left around thirty Catholics dead. Over the decades and centuries since, it has again and again been a source of division and bitterness, even among those who normally get along well. Frequently it has been involved in clashes in which Catholicism was denounced and Catholics killed.
Does it make sense to ignore these facts? To ignore Orange rules which forbid Catholics or the spouses of Catholics from joining? Which urge its members to be on guard against Popish deception and idolatry? Which has historically resisted progressive change at every turn, from Catholic Emancipation to the Great Reform Bill to Home Rule? And that is linked to Eleventh Night bonfires that are the home of bigotry and religious contempt?
There are two ways of dealing with these awkward facts. One is to do what An Taoiseach has done and kiss the toad, and keep on kissing it until it turns into a princess. It could work, although Mary McAleese spent some fourteen years when she was in Áras an Uachtaráin, if not kissing then hosting the Orange Order to on-the-lawn jamborees. It doesn’t seem to have made much difference.
The other approach is to point out to the Orange Order the things about it which make it anathema to many Catholocs/nationalsts/republicans, and work with them to remove, if possible the triumphalist gene from its make-up. It must be possible to celebrate Protestantism and unionism without quite so much swagger and sneer. And maybe while stationary in one area.
If we pretend that there isn’t a problem, then visits from Leo Varadkar and others will send a message to Orangeism, telling them that triumphalism and contempt for their neighbours is OK, it’s part of our history. Big mistake. Only by acknowledging what is shameful in our past – and present – can we hope to create a better future.
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