Orange Order chief Mervyn Gibson: Community ‘frustrated and angry’ over Stormont deal
Posted by Jim on January 31, 2020
January 31 2020 11:02 AM
The grand secretary of the Orange Order has said there is “a lot of frustration and anger from the community at large” over the New Decade, New Approach deal which brought about the restoration of Northern Ireland’s power-sharing institutions.
Mervyn Gibson made the comments following a meeting of Orange Order members in Co Tyrone on Thursday night.
He said members strongly opposed Irish language legislation and certain legacy provisions contained in the agreement.
The agreement provides official recognition for the Irish language and will also see an Irish language commissioner appointed, as well as an Ulster Scots commissioner.
Sinn Fein described the comments as “unhelpful and contrary to the direction our society needs to travel”.
Mr Gibson said members feel more detail is needed on some aspects of the deal.
“We discussed various aspects of the deal, we reiterated our opposition to the Irish language legislation. We also said there was a lot of ambiguity around it – we indeed repeated our previous statement,” he told the BBC following the meeting.
“There was a lot of frustration and anger expressed from the community at large that has emerged about what happened, particularly the ambiguity.
“Of course nobody is going to condemn or say that it was wrong to give nurses pay parity or extra police officers – there are things in the deal that are good for the whole community – but there are things in the deal that aren’t explained yet or fully understood.
“There are legacy issues there that we would have problems with and we had a frank and open debate around that and we decided unanimously to continue to oppose the Irish language legislation in any way we can.”
The Orange Order chief said once the language is legislated for it can be judicially reviewed – and therefore alter the existing laws. Mr Gibson said that was an option some individuals have already said they would pursue.
He said the organisation fears the Irish language will “continue to be used as a weapon against the unionist community”.
On legacy issues, Mr Gibson said the Orange Order is opposed to the New Decade, New Approach deal’s commitment to bring forward Stormont House Agreement proposals.
“We would want to see, not only further discussions, but changes to that. We think their needs to be time given to that, people need to lobby and consult widely so as there is no difference in treatment for those in this part of the United Kingdom here in Northern Ireland and particularly those who maybe didn’t serve in the Crown Forces,” he said.
Mr Gibson said the Orange Order has had meetings with all the unionist parties to voice their concerns, and will continue to “seek clarity” on parts of the deal.
“All parties listen to what we say, how they act sometimes remains to be seen,” he added.
Stormont House legacy proposals, agreed in 2014, include the creation of an Historical Investigations Unit to examine unsolved murders committed during the Troubles and an Independent Commission on Information Retrieval for families to learn more about the fate of their loved ones.
Sinn Fein MLA John O’Dowd challenged the Orange Order to outline clearly if it sees itself as a cultural or political organisation.
He said the comments “undermine the basis on which the political institutions have been restored”.
“The Orange Order must decide whether its role is cultural or if it is a political organisation and, if so, it should, like the rest of us, submit itself to the electorate.”
Belfast Telegraph