Report warns against displays of Irishness

Posted by Jim on March 1, 2015

A St Patrick’s Day parade in Scotland is facing cancellation because it
could be attacked by loyalists, according to reports this week.

The St Patrick’s Day parade next month in Glasgow is being opposed
because of official “nervousness” about the response of loyalists and
the anti-Catholic Orange Order.

The “nervousness” is contained in a report drawn up by the British/Irish
Parliamentary Assembly (BIPA), which has controversially urged that
symbols of Irishness in Scotland be suppressed over fears of a sectarian
response.

BIPA is comprised of parliamentarians from both the Dublin, London and
Edinburgh parliaments, as well as members of the Welsh and Stormont
Assemblies.

Its draft report warned that symbols of Irishness could be “demonised by
sectarianism”. It revealed that at least two Irish centers in Scotland
have been burned down in sectarian attacks, and suggested the centers
were at fault for exhibiting excessive Irishness.

Some Irish community organisations were regarded as “troublemakers”, it
said, and Irish songs and symbols were “contentious”.

A committee of members produced the document, but it was not adopted by
the full Assembly after some Scottish members said that it was
inflammatory — to unionists.

Mary Scanlon, a Scottish Conservative and Unionist, objected to
labelling the Irish in Scotland as a minority, which she claimed was
“divisive”.

“I am a unionist for the UK. We have just come out of the most divisive
election ever in the history of my time in Scotland,” she said.

Labour MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North Jim Sheridan said the Irish
should not be regarded as a minority and insisted public money must not
be spent on a St Patrick’s Day march in Glasgow.

“People need to look forward, move forward and think of a modern
Scotland and stop living in the past,” he said.