Sir, - Kevin Haddick Flynn (May 4th) has the wrong end of the stick. No-one refused to "support the rights" of the Orange "tradition". Sinn Fein had a motion unanimously passed in Dublin City Council asserting the right of the Orangemen to march in Dawson Street. The motion also requested the Orange Order to enter into direct dialogue with the representatives of the people of the Garvaghy and Ormeau Roads. The second part of the motion is what stuck in the craw of the Orangemen. They do not take criticism well.
The extensive exposure of the nature of Orange Order practices,for which the march provided a catalyst, was something the Orangemen find difficult to deal with. They would rather avoid having to deal with the inconsistency of demanding tolerance for an organisation whose basis is the promotion and practice of intolerance of the most sectarian kind.
What Orangemen need to learn (and I write this without being patronising) is that while tolerant people may be tolerant of the existence of the Orange Order, it is not possible to be tolerant of the intolerant ideas and practices of that organisation. The people of the Garvaghy Road, especially, permanently suffer the effects of Orange intolerance. Young people in that part of Portadown may never enter the town because of a well-founded fear of physical harm up to and including death (as occurred with Robert Hamill). While one or two isolated Orange leaders showed a spark of humanity and humility after the tragic murders of the Quinn children a couple of years ago, the vast majority of Orange spokesperson and followers continued to proclaim that all violence emanating from the interminable marches, sieges and posturing of the Orange Order had and have nothing to do with them. The Orangemen were welcome to march in Dublin and have chosen not to do so. They are not welcome to march on the Garvaghy Road and continue to insist on doing so, while also refusing to talk to the representatives of the Garvaghy residents. There is more than a little Irish contrariness at work here. It is called sectarianism. I and other tolerant, pluralist individuals and organisations have no problem in conscience in opposing it. - Yours, etc.,Mick Finnegan,
Bannow Road,
Cabra,
Dublin 7.