Sir, - Mary Freehill, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, is making much of "inclusivity". She says that it does not matter whether "we are talking about refugees or the Orange Order."
I am glad the good Lord Mayor feels that way, for the Orange Order certainly does not. Not only is the Orange Order a male-only organisation but prospective members have to swear that they and their wives are not "of the Roman faith". Surely by inviting this organisation to march in the capital the Lord Mayor of Dublin is condoning rather than condemning these practices.
Lord Mayor Freehill is using the excuse that the Orange Order has been marching here in Co Donegal for nearly two centuries. What she does not seem to comprehend is that no-one ever "invited" the order to march here and that the organisation's marches are very unpopular among the vast majority of Donegal people - Catholic and Protestant.
It has become unfashionable down South to criticise anything Unionist. However, wrong is still wrong. And this rule of the Orange Order's is very wrong. By its very nature the Orange Order is a sectarian organisation. I think it is very unfair of Ms Freehill to equate the situation of the Orange Order (a large, wealthy, powerful organisation) in Ireland to that of refugees to this country.
It is not right of the Lord Mayor of Dublin to trample on the sensitivities of Ulster nationalists in this way. Would she trample on the sensitivities of African immigrants to this country by inviting the Ku-Klux-Klan to march up Dawson Street? I certainly hope not. In short, Mary Freehill should not involve herself in issues she obviously does not understand. - Yours, etc.,
Sean Browne, Gillystown, St Johnston, Lifford, Co Donegal.