Sir, - What sort of a united Ireland does Sinn FΘin want? If they want people who are at present unionist to know they would be welcome in a united Ireland, they will have to accept that many Protestants would still have an Orange identity and would still want to march and celebrate the success of William at the Boyne and commemorate the Somme and the Relief of Derry.
Republicans who glibly claim that they will represent Protestants and "dissenters" need to get their heads around the fact that many dissenters are, and are likely to continue to be, Orangemen.
Republicans have yet to prove they can accept Protestants as they are, with their Orange baggage. Orangeism is not a part of my Protestantism - I believe it taints the Reformed faith and because of this I have no time for it - but the regrettable fact of the matter is that since the middle of the 18th century it has increasingly been part of being a "dissenter".
Sinn FΘin will not be accepted by unionist people until it can lead its own communities to tolerate or at least ignore Orange marches, even if they experience them as offensive at this point in history. I don't believe that Orange marches will seem so offensive to Republicans when we are in a united, all-Ireland state.
It is too easy for Republicans to say they have no problems with Protestants and that they will welcome dissenters. They must go further and prove to present-day unionists that when a united Ireland comes about there will be no Fethard-on-sea type responses if, for example, a Protestant mother wants her children to take part in Orange parades during the marching season.
Sinn FΘin could prove their case now by leading their people to ignore Orange marches or by getting activists in their communities to turn down the heat on protest at marches. Sinn FΘin's increased vote in the recent elections should strengthen its hand to do this. This would do much to reduce that polarisation of communities which is arguably a bigger threat to the peace process than the absence of decommissioning and demilitarisation. Further, it would in no way compromise the republican goal of a United Ireland. - Yours, etc.,
Dr Noel Mccune, Ardfreelin, Newry, Co Down.