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Daily Dispatch 30th June 2006 MAGINNESS
BAFFLED BY MONEY FOR ORANGE ORDER He said: “The notion that Orange marches can attract tourists to Belfast is fanciful in the extreme. They are already helping tourism, but it is Donegal that gets the benefit every July because so many people - and not just nationalists - dislike the whole ugly atmosphere of intimidation and triumphalism. “I think it would be wonderful to have the family-friendly, fully inclusive Orangefest that Minister David Hanson talks about. But the fact is that the Orange Order fails the first and every test of inclusivity. “This is not merely a matter of perceptions as the minister seems to think. The marching orders have a two-hundred year record of exclusion and community dominance and the fancy PR moves of recent months have not changed that reality. “I am deeply concerned that the NIO is diverting more and more money from genuine areas of community need to finance purely political objectives and reward political groups currently in favour. Money is being cut from festivals which have a genuine track record of cross-community work and inclusiveness. The minister is clearly pandering to the Orange Order on DUP instructions. “The
Orange Order is free to compete with other groups for funding
for genuine cross-community efforts, but any public money it receives
should be absolutely conditional on it learning to respect its
neighbours.” |
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