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Dear Brethren,
I took the opportunity recently, when addressing Carnmoney
District L.O.L in County Antrim, to call for the inclusion
of the GAA and Opus Dei to the list of Notifiable Memberships
of the PSNI.
This month I'd like to tell you, readers of the Orange Standard,
why I made that call.
At present seven organisations are listed; they are: Ancient
Order of Hibernians; Apprentice Boys of Derry Association;
Freemasons; Independent Orange Order; Knights of St. Columbanus;
Loyal Orange Institution (including the Women's Orange Order)
and the Royal Black Institution.
We are opposed to being on the Notifiable Membership list
for the PSNI, and have re-iterated that position, but we also
believe that while our organisation is on the list then there
must be balance and equality and in our view this is lacking.
Why should Orangemen in the PSNI have to list their membership
like some sort of notifiable disease when members of GAA clubs
with facilities named after IRA hunger strikers do not.
The list has some nationalist organisations and not others,
so there seems little rationale to the overall situation and
we believe this needs to be addressed.
Links between some GAA Clubs and republican events means
that the organisation is viewed with suspicion within the
Protestant community. While there are doubtless many genuine
and dedicated sports enthusiasts within the GAA, our research
has highlighted other links with republicanism and it is in
this context that we are asking for the GAA to be formally
added to the list.
This should not be left for individuals to provide the information
voluntarily, as in our view the same position should then
be taken in relation to Loyal Orders membership and this has
not been the case.
Opus Dei is a secret society which discourages its members
from making public their affiliation and, while we accept
that there are many genuine people involved, we also have
concerns about some of the allegations in relation to Opus
Dei and the context of some of the rules of the organisation.
In the interests of the Police Service of Northern Ireland,
we believe that Opus Dei should be on the list. The PSNI have
said that they did not place it there partly because they
felt membership in Northern Ireland was low, but this fails
to take into account recruitment from the Republic of Ireland
and elsewhere and also that the basis of Opus Dei does not
appear to be about numbers but about influence at high levels.
I understand that Opus Dei was in the original consultation
document prepared by the police but it was removed. We have
never received a satisfactory explanation about why this happened.
The premise of the Notifiable Membership scenario seems to
be that if an organisation could reasonably be regarded, by
some members or sections of the public, as affecting an officer's
ability to discharge their duties effectively and impartially,
then that officer should declare membership in confidence
and internally. In our view this is precisely the situation
with a large section of the population in relation to the
GAA and Opus Dei.
We feel it is unjust for the Orange Institution and other
Loyal Orders and others from the nationalist community to
be on the list, and while yet one of the largest nationalist
organisations, the GAA, and also one of the potentially most
influential groups within the Roman Catholic community, Opus
Dei, are not listed.
It is discrimination, plain and simple. And it is not good
enough.
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