Orange day should be a national holiday

I WELCOME the move by Galway Council of Trade Unions to have July 12 declared a national holiday “in recognition of the other traditions in the island of Ireland, and in furtherance of the peace process.”

The Galway motion is scheduled to go before the ICTU conference in Belfast. That’s not to confirm any legitimacy on a triumphalist, sectarian, bigoted Orange Order. Rather it’s a recognition of tolerance for all creeds, and none.

St Patrick’s Day has been a bank holiday for many years in the North.

The Galway motion also rightly deplores the scandal of Irish workers getting fewer public holidays than the EU average.

Paul Kinsella

53 Lorcan Grove

Santry

Dublin 9