Letter to the Editor: Protestants do not all support loyalists

The statement by the Apprentice Boys of Derry, acknowledging that members of the Clyde Valley loyalist flute band wore a contentious British Parachute Regiment emblem during an Orange Order parade and that this “may have caused upset to many in the nationalist community”, is deeply depressing.

This statement suggests that the unionist community is not upset or offended by loyalist sectarianism. I reject this view. The many academic achievements of Ireland’s Protestant community in Irish literature, music, language, and art are a reminder of the considerable influence it had on Irish culture in the 19th and 20th centuries.