Bring Orange Order in from the cold

I THINK that it is, perhaps, time to adopt a more intelligent approach to the problem of the Orange Order than that advocated by Brian P Murphy and Rev David Armstrong.

The Order received a serious, possibly terminal, defeat over the Drumcree issue and appear to have lost much support and, in fact, may have become an embarrassment within their own community.

Nobody would seriously deny that they are a sectarian group, but they are in decline and this might be the time to offer them a chance to climb back from their present limb of isolation.

I feel that the invitation for them to participate in the Cork St Patrick’s Day parade was a good and an imaginative gesture, and it is a pity it was so quickly rejected.

Whether we like it or not, the Orange Order are part of the fabric of Irish society and if they can be “sanitised” and brought in from the cold, it would further reconciliation on this island.

After all, they have paraded, without offence, at Rossknowlagh in Co Donegal for quite a few years.

If we are serious about our constitutionally expressed desire for a united Ireland, then many more compromises than this will be required, but it would be a good start.

David Roberts

Gloundine

Castlegrove

Mallow

Co Cork