The Grand Master of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, Robert
Saulters, has said feelings are running high in the Protestant
community following the most recent attacks on Orange Halls.
He said:
"The New Year is only two days old and already we have
had very serious arson attacks on two of our halls. In 2007,
27 halls were targeted by arsonists who caused hundreds of
thousands of pounds worth of damage.
"It seems that there will be no let up in the well organised
and orchestrated campaign against our halls and the Protestant
culture. It is a very worrying development and feelings are
running extremely high in the Protestant community. I would
appeal for calm and ask that no-one even considers taking
the law into their own hands. It is up to the police to catch
the people responsible and prevent any further attacks.
"We have met the Secretary of State and the Chief Constable
and called for more resolute action to deal with this campaign,
but they seem unable to do anything.
"I believe the answer lies with the Secretary of State
who, with the stroke of a pen, can amend the Criminal Damage
Compensation Act to make it easier to rebuild our halls or
indeed any halls which are maliciously damaged. This will
remove the incentive to attack Orange and other community
halls.
"We have been making this point for several years now
and it was our number one priority in the document we gave
both major Unionist parties before the St. Andrew's Talks.
"The Orange Order is totally committed to playing a
positive role in the future of Northern Ireland but it seems
that evil people are determined to attack our culture and
heritage. We need the support of government but so far it
has been sadly lacking."
|
