The prospect of Orangemen being disciplined by the order for taking part in the violence at Drumcree on Sunday is remote, writes Brian Kennaway
Following the violence at Drumcree again on Sunday night, the executive officer of the Orange Order, George Patton, said: "We will be investigating. . . we will deal with this." However, the promise of disciplinary action against the Orangemen involved is unlikely to be carried out, to go by previous experience.
I am now just a "rank-and-file" Orangeman and I am distraught - like most rank-and-file Orangemen - by the violence associated with Drumcree in recent years.
I support the right of Portadown District Orangemen and agree with David Burrows when he said that this violence does not help the Orange cause. The decision of the Parades Commission is based on the objection of the Garvaghy Road residents - therefore every stone thrown and every foul word spoken is only giving credence and ammunition to those who oppose the parade.
The promise of disciplinary action by George Patton may well be a matter of, "Tell me the old, old story". We have, after all, heard all this before - but we have seen no results.
We have had promises of discipline in relation to the Harryville Chapel protest. The Grand Master, Robert Saulters, was interviewed by Garry Kent for the Irish Post on March 15th, 1997. Garry Kent wrote: "Disciplinary action is also promised against any Orange Order members who participated in Harryville pickets whilst wearing their Orange collarettes. Saulters has himself studied the photographs but has said he couldn't identify any participants. There would be definitive action by June, if not before."
While wearing a collarette does not necessarily make you a member of the Orange Order - collarettes are a penny a dozen - a number of those involved in the Harryville picket were members of the Orange Order. They were easily identified from photographs. No discipline was exercised against any Orangeman in reference to Harryville, in spite of the presence of a number of prominent Orangemen among the ranks of the protesters.
Individuals involved were identified, the rules are there to deal with such situations, but no one had the courage to implement the rules and stand up to the thugs and bully boys. Contrary to the promise of the Grand Master, no one faced "definitive action" over Harryville.
Neither did anyone face disciplinary action over their involvement in the "Spirit of Drumcree" group. This factious group, which began following the first Drumcree stand-off in 1995, was to cause serious damage to the Orange Institution.
On March 27th, 1997, the half-yearly meeting of County Antrim Grand Orange Lodge was unable to take place because of the arrival of busloads of "Spirit of Drumcree" supporters. The meeting had to be abandoned, amid scenes of disorder. The IRA in over 30 years of terrorism had not managed to achieve what the "Spirit of Drumcree" had achieved - the abandonment of a County Grand Lodge meeting.
Urged on by their "success" in Antrim, the "Spirit of Drumcree" group later that year occupied Orange headquarters in Belfast and prevented the Grand Lodge from meeting there the following day.
This provoked the assurances of discipline from the Grand Master. He was quoted in the Belfast Telegraph as saying they would "have to be dealt with". But no one was to face disciplinary action over their membership of the "Spirit of Drumcree".
Grand Lodge press statements constantly attempt to dissociate the Orange Institution from paramilitary activity. The executive officer is quoted in the Irish News of November 6th, 1999: "Our rules are quite explicit. If anyone is involved in paramilitary activity they will be disciplined by expulsion from the order; you can't be a member of the order and a loyalist paramilitary group."
This is a contradiction of what the master of a Belfast lodge, who had a number of members convicted for paramilitary activity, said in Peter Taylor's book Loyalists: "We don't throw them out because they're brethren . . . but to us these guys are not criminals, they're victims of circumstances."
No one was disciplined for sending out contradictory messages.
Violence associated with successive Drumcrees is nothing new. In July 1998 David Jones was quoted as saying about those involved in violence: "It would be a matter for each lodge but there would certainly be disciplinary action."
Denis Watson, the Grand Secretary, stated on October 17th, 2000: "Anyone convicted of a criminal offence is automatically expelled from the institution." This, of course, contradicted what the master of a Belfast lodge had said.
There were those who did face the courts on charges of criminal damage over the Drumcree conflict, but none was expelled from the institution as a result.
Patsy McGarry is right when he wrote: "Orangemen cannot be absolved from blame for the vicious rioting." If the confidence of the Protestant and unionist population is to be restored in the Orange institution, acts of public disorder should be followed by acts of public discipline. The community must know that people are being dealt with and precisely how they have been dealt with.
All the public relations in the world will not put a good spin on this. It is unfortunate that the Orange spokesman was begrudging in condemnation of the violence, blaming it on "mindless thugs". If they were, they were also brethren. As the world saw, they were the "doughty sons of Ulster, proudly wearing their Orange collarettes".
To expect discipline this time is "hope triumphing over experience". I for one will not be holding my breath.
The Rev Brian Kennaway, a Presbyterian clergyman, is a former education convenor of the Grand Orange Lodge.