Orange Order accused of ‘hypocrisy’ over Drumcree Irish language objections

The Orange Order has been accused of “hypocrisy” after it objected to dual language signs in nationalist areas it plans to march through.

Earlier this year members of the Loyal Orders in the Co Armagh town launched a bid to stop the erection of dual language signage in nationalists parts of Portadown.

Tensions are growing after local Orangemen revealed plans to bring 60 members along the Garvaghy Road later this month.

The Drumcree protest, which began in 1995, ended with the UVF murder of three Catholic children in 1998.

The Quinn brothers are among 21 people, mostly Catholics, killed by loyalists and the British army at the height of parading tensions between 1996 and 1999.

Many believe the Orange Order’s demand to march through the mainly Catholic area damaged community relations not only in Portadown but also further afield.

It has now emerged that Corcrain Purple Rocket LOL objected to dual language signage at Corcrain Gardens and Ballyoran Hill areas earlier this year despite the majority of local residents saying they wanted them.

In correspondence to officials at Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon council the lodge secretary wrote: “We believe them to be very divisive, detrimental to community relations and would raise tensions in the area.”

The local lodge described the signs as “provocative”.

The Worshipful Master of Corcrain Royal Black Preceptory also registered their “serious objections” to the signs, describing them as “divisive”.

“This is not the way to build community cohesion and is only likely to build tension in an area that has been fairly peaceful for quite some time now,” the official wrote.

Corcrain Cultural and Development Association claimed the signs would be “detrimental to community relations”

“We have had a period of peaceful co-existence in the area over recent years and these signs being erected has the potential to derail that, which is the last thing we want,” the association wrote.

A spokesman for Irish language group An Dream Dearg said the “intervention of the Orange Order in relation to dual language signs is outrageous”.

“The huge support for bilingual signage across the north is testament to a miraculous community revival and exposes the hypocrisy of the Orange Order who, on the one hand want to force a parade down the Garvaghy Road, which has historically led to violence and disorder on our streets, yet on the other seek to deny bilingual signage where there is overwhelming public support - and doing all of this in the interest of ‘community relations’,” he said.

The spokesman said that in recent weeks the Orange Order has “claimed to espouse an approach rooted in human rights and equality.

“Pull back the curtain and that could not be further from the truth,” he said.