To Mr Drew Nelson Grand Secretary of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ierland Dear Drew I am sure you are as aware as I am of the growing anger within the Protestant community over parades. Indeed, during the recent election campaign, I heard a lot from the electorate about the parading issue. Feelings of frustration were expressed to me about what people saw as the steady erosion of the rights of Protestants and Unionists through restrictions on loyal order parades. I am therefore encouraged by the joint unionist decision to withdraw from the all-party talks at Stormont and I convinced that the sort of resolute action now being taken by Unionism will resonate with the Unionist people. I have long argued, in letters, statements and speeches, that the Parades Commission was not fit for purpose. If anything, this newly constituted Commission is even worse than its predecessors and some of its decisions could well have far-reaching consequences. It does indeed appear that the Ardoyne decision could be the straw that has broken the camel’s back. I would like to take this opportunity to remind you about the two villages in North Antrim where the loyal orders have faced grossly unfair restrictions on their right of peaceful procession over many years. The first is Dunloy, where my own lodge, Dunloy LOL 496, is based. The village on Dunloy has been a no-go area for Protestants for a very long time. Indeed, you might recall that it was one of the earliest “disputed” parades. Yet again this Twelfth, we will assemble in the morning as normal (one accordion band and one lodge) but we will be prevented from parading to the church to lay our wreath in memory of our dead. As law-abiding citizens, we will read out our letter of protest, but we respect the law and will take no further action. That is not to say, as you will appreciate, that we are not frustrated or angry, for we are both. The second village is Rasharkin. Yet again this year, Ballymaconnelly LOL 360 and Rasharkin Chosen Few LOL 694 have been told that they cannot parade through Sunnyside Drive in Rasharkin on their return from the Ballymoney demonstration on the Twelfth evening. Sunnyside Drive contains some two dozen houses and about ten of these are occupied by Protestants, but the Commission has decided to deny these people their civil rights. This sort of appeasement merely exacerbates and increases community tensions. I know both villages well and I am convinced that a large majority of the decent nationalist community have no difficulty whatever with these small parades on what is the biggest day in the Orange calendar. Yes again, a small militant hard-line republican core is setting the agenda and people are afraid to speak out. I feel that now might well be the opportunity to grasp various parading nettles, and I would like to ensure that Dunloy and Rasharkin are on any list. I leave these matters with you. Yours sincerely John Finlay
Posted on: Fri, 04 Jul 2014 14:30:28 +0000
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