SF: We welcome Orange grants

NOT so long ago they would have seen red at the idea but Sinn Féin has shown that when peace is the priority, the future is orange.

The party yesterday welcomed a decision by the Government to grant aid to the Orange Order.

A total of €240,000 is to be made available to Orange Order branches or lodges in the border counties of Cavan, Monaghan, Leitrim and Donegal over the next two years under a scheme announced by Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Éamon Ó Cuív.

These lodges have formed a company, Cadolemo Ltd, to promote community initiatives in the border regions and the Government grants are to be used to support the work of their development officer.

Mr Ó Cuív said the development officer would “provide support, training and mentoring in relation to capacity building and community development, and facilitate the securing of funding for the repair and refurbishment of Orange Hall facilities”.

The plan is to benefit not just the Orange Order but other community groups that use Orange Halls.

“A number of Orange Halls in rural areas have been attacked in recent times, activities I totally deplore, so I am delighted to be in a position to provide funding which will be focused, among other things, on developing those facilities for the various groups that use them,” said Mr Ó Cuív.

And despite the Orange Order’s staunchly Protestant, unionist ethos and traditional branding by critics as sectarian, Sinn Féin has wholeheartedly endorsed the project.

“I absolutely welcome that. I think that it’s quite an important development,” said the party’s Dáil leader, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, who will see the fruits of it in his own Cavan-Monaghan constituency.

“I think it’s very, very important that the focus is on reconciliation and consolidating the peace. We as Irish republicans are completely on board with that,” he said.

“I would hope that Orange Halls would not be seen as isolated from the community but that the doors would open up and would be greater community interaction across all community divisions.”

The first meeting of a Sinn Féin branch in an Orange Hall is now eagerly awaited.