Madam, - I strongly support the proposal to have the Orange Order participate in the St Patrick's Day parade in Cork. Unity means accommodating diversity, uniting the pluralist people of Ireland into an open, inclusive, non-threatening society.
Brendan Behan said decades ago: "If we are genuinely interested in an United Ireland then we should welcome the Orange Order to march on every street in every town in Ireland."
Unless we are hypocrites we must extend and defend for all the human rights we want for ourselves. Where there are conflicting rights, then there must be give and take and I support talking to residents and doing a trade: the residents' co-operation for the Order's co-operation.
I have attended many Orange parades and I have never seen or heard anything offensive to me. I even enjoyed myself - particularly now that the Orders are providing fun-filled festivals that can be supported by all. The Apprentice Boys in Derry put on the Maiden City festival and the Schomberg Society put on the Reivers Festival in Kilkeel. Cross-cultural events will make us realise that a "salad bowl society" is far more entertaining than a homogenised society.
Cultural synthesising helps innovation and creativity. Why go abroad to see something different when we have rich diversity at home? - Yours, etc.,
NOEL FLANNERY, South Circular Road, Limerick.
Madam, - The decision by the St Patrick's Day parade organisers in Cork to invite members of the Orange Order to participate in the parade as part of the "Lagan by the Lee" initiative is to be regretted. Such an invitation is not consistent with the carnival ethos of the St Patrick's Day celebrations and should be reconsidered. In May 2000 in Dublin, an invitation to the Orange Order to parade down Dawson Street followed by a reception in the Mansion House, courtesy of Lord Mayor Mary Freehill, was withdrawn due to public protest. Central to this protest was the refusal by the rector of St Anne's church in Dawson Street, with the unanimous support of his select vestry, to permit the Orangemen use of his church.
All the soft focus media airbrushing or high powered spin doctoring cannot disguise the true nature of this sectarian organisation. Those who would dismiss the Orange Order as some silly harmless men in bowler hats and umbrellas marching behind Lambeg drums should reflect on events in Portadown in recent years.
The history of the Orange Order is a shameful litany of intimidation and supremacy. Toleration of intolerance is not pluralism, it is cowardice; and if the violence and division this island has endured for centuries are to be overcome, bigotry must be challenged and exposed at every opportunity. - Yours, etc.,
TOM COOPER, Knocklyon, Dubin 16.