MEMBERS OF the Orange Order heard during their only rally in the Republic of the “significant and historic” visit last week by leaders of the order to the Seanad.
An estimated 6,000 people attended the parade on Saturday in Rossnowlagh, Co Donegal.
The grand master of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, Edward Stevenson, who led the Seanad delegation, said he believed “a lot of good” would come from the visit.
He revealed there had been a 40-minute meeting with Taoiseach Enda Kenny after the visit, during which future Government funding of Protestant schools in the Republic was raised.
A group in Donegal being led by a Catholic priest and a Protestant clergyman is campaigning against plans to axe small Gaeltacht and Protestant schools.
Mr Stevenson said Mr Kenny promised Orange leaders a future meeting to discuss planned schools cuts further.
He said while the Dublin visit was historic, it was only the latest in a long line of meetings Orange leaders had attended in Dublin.
Mr Stevenson added at a religious service after the march: “Over the past five or six years we have built up strong relationships in the corridors of power in Dublin . . . The Orange institution and its members want to play a full role in the civic society of this country.”
More than 30 bands took part in the 2km (1.2 mile) parade of 50 lodges from southern Border counties and across Northern Ireland.