The leadership of the Orange Order in a statement last night reiterated its rejection of the Good Friday Agreement. The statement came five days after a five-member delegation from the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland met the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, in London, and it was stressed in senior Orange circles last night that this would be the organisation's final definitive statement before the May 22nd referendum.
The statement asserts that the Orange Institution is an organisation committed to civil and religious liberty and as such cannot instruct anybody how to vote, and it urges everybody to read and study the proposals in the agreement.
However, it adds, in the light of the clarification received and for the reasons previously documented the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland is "unable to recommend the agreement to the people of Ulster".
The statement says that since the publication of the Good Friday Agreement, Orange Order leaders have given it careful and detailed consideration.
"We had hoped that it would offer such a real prospect of peace that we could positively endorse it. Sadly that has not been the case. Grand Lodge at its meeting on April 15th decided that failing clarification of certain vital issues we could not recommend the agreement. Clarification was sought from a variety of sources including a request for a meeting with the Prime Minister.
"Before meeting Mr Blair we were aware that Her Majesty's government, as one of the parties to a multi-party agreement, could not unilaterally vary or amend it. We thought it right, however, to meet the Prime Minister, to express our concerns and to listen carefully to his responses.
"Having heard the Prime Minister's response we are confirmed in our opinion of those matters in the agreement that we find objectionable or unalterable and we have communicated this to our County Grand Masters for transmission to their members."
The Order says its objections to the agreement centre on such things as: Dublin interference in the internal affairs of Northern Ireland; the prospect of an undemocratically accountable Stormont Assembly; the prospect of unrepentant terrorists in the Executive of the proposed Stormont Assembly; the Maryfield Secretariat and the Anglo-Irish Agreement in another guise.
Last night's statement has been issued with the full approval of the leadership of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland and the various County Grand Masters within the organisation's jurisdiction.
The Orange Order has a membership of around 70,000.