Irish Examiner view: A small step but a gesture of real hope

DUP condemnation of flag-burning offers a glimmer of hope for progress in Northern Ireland

Ireland's tricolour burns on the Tigers Bay  'eleventh-night' bonfire in Belfast, in the early hours of Monday morning. DUP leadership condemnation of flag-burning has to be welcomed.   Picture: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Background and tradition shape our consciousness and worldview. They define whether you regard the promotion of Irish as a political or a cultural project. That ambition may be seen very differently along Belfast’s Shankill Road and the Dublin suburb of Shankill. One community may see it as a red-rag provocation. The other, or at least some of it, may see the rejuvenation project as an enriching way to express some of the traits that make up a strand of our national character.

That same dynamic, but in reverse, shapes the majority view south of the border on events marking The Twelfth. This annual celebration of Loyalism was, for generations, a mix of triumphalism and Croppy-lie-down intimidation. That has been changing for many years, especially since 2012, when the late Austin Hunter apologised on behalf of the Royal Black Institution after sectarian abuse was levelled at St Patrick’s Church in Belfast. The administrator of St Patrick’s, Fr Michael Sheehan, responded in kind: “I welcome this positive development and the sincere Christian spirit behind it.” A small but significant gesture in the normalisation of relationships — even if achieving that “normalisation” can make the revival of Irish look like child’s play.