CAN ALL ORANGE PARADES EVER SHED SECTARIANISM AND ANTI-CATHOLIC BIGOTRY?

Allison Morris.Irish Nws ( Belfast).

THE Orange Order said this week that not enough is being done to promote the Twelfth to tourists. Drew Nelson was speaking after “bands activist” – yes apparently that’s a thing – Quincey Dougan said that parades were the “hidden gems within the tourism industry of Northern Ireland”. Mr Dougan does not only have a name befitting a Bond villian, he also has a point. While much of the publicity that surrounds the marching season is negative – and the Orange Order must take responsibility for that – there is a uniqueness and pageantry to the parades that I can see would be attractive to tourists if presented correctly. I’ve covered countless parades over the years. At one point I’d been to so many marches in the space of a month I found myself singing The Sash while hanging washing on the line much to the bemusement of my neighbours. And to lump all parades together is to do an injustice to what can be a very colourful, family orientated day out. I can see the attraction when it comes to marches in rural or uncontested areas where police presence at a minimum and music and merriment at a maximum.

Young, old – and all that comes in between – enjoying a spectacle that would, if properly presented, surely be of interest to tourists visiting these shores. The fact that it’s an exclusively Protestant pastime shouldn’t be a barrier to making parades and the Twelfth more accessible to visitors. The same could also be said of other sporting or cultural pastimes such as GAA or even Irish dancing, which cater almost exclusively to one section of the community. No the wheels come off this grand plan when you take a look at the city parades and the remaining contested routes in Belfast.

Back when I first became a journalist it was Drumcree, the Whiterock and the Lower Ormeau where the news cameras positioned themselves in July.

However, in recent years, and with those three marches either banned or severely restricted, it’s north Belfast where press attention is now focused. The real challenge the Orange Order faces if it wants to transform the image of marching – and if they honestly expect the tourist board to promote the event as culture – is solving these disputes, or at least removing the heat from them. Those of us who have spent a lot of time at the side of the road watching parades go past will tell you in many cases it’s not the Orangemen themselves but the bands and supporters who follow them that cause the real controversy.

Over the years we’ve seen bands named after paramilitary groups, memorial marches dedicated to killers applying to march past the very spot where their victims were murdered, hoards of drunken abusive stragglers following behind shouting sectarian abuse and even bandsmen urinating outside places of worship and disrespecting people who are then asked to show tolerance. Parading in Northern Ireland really has become a game of two halves. In Derry massive efforts have been made to ensure parading in the city has been peaceful for many years. Rural lodges have in the main engaged with communities and in some areas recognised the changing demographics of many towns and villages and adjusted how they engage with communities as a result. Compare that with Ardoyne where, since 2013, a hardcore of Orangemen and their supporters have set up camp at the Twaddell interface and hold nightly protests that have gained nothing apart from raising tensions in the area. They care not for the multi-million-pound policing bill in this time of austerity, nor do they care that what they’re doing has no hope of succeeding. Those who offer political advice to the protesters have done a great disservice to their community by encouraging a futile protest while they continue to claim handsome salaries working in a ‘cross-community’ basis. Talking out of both sides of their mouth, rather than giving sensible guidance, they have created a situation that continues to present the Orange Order in a negative and destructive light. How they expect the tourist board to market that shambles to visitors is beyond me. Caravanning at Twaddell is not my idea of a fun-filled holiday.

Barbara Flaherty

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