‘Make July 12 national holiday to make Protestants feel equal’

JULY 12 should be made a national holiday here to appease the Orange tradition, former justice minister Michael McDowell insisted last night as he hinted at a return to frontline politics.

Giving a key-note address to the MacGill summer school, the ex-PD leader refused to rule-out attempting a Dáil comeback after his humiliating defeat at the last general election.

Mr McDowell insisted that the Republic had never done enough to make citizens from the Protestant tradition feel an equal part of the nation and should now make amends by embracing the July marking of the Battle of the Boyne.