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Speaking at the opening of an new Orange Arch in Annalong
on Wednesday July 1 2009 Drew Nelson, Grand Secretary of the
Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, responded to a speech by Martin
McGuinness, Sinn Fein Deputy First Minister made at Bodenstown
on Sunday June 21,2009
"Last Sunday week Martin McGuinness, the Deputy First
Minister of Northern Ireland,used the Annual Wolfe Tone Commemoration
at Bodenstown in County Kildare to communicate his intolerance
to the Orange Order.
He accused us of sectarian provocation because we want to
maintain our traditional parades.
When our members take part in parades I believe that they
are doing so as a re-affirmation of their Protestantism and
their Britishness.
Nothing more or less than that.
And of course that is what Martin McGuinness hates about
our Parades.
He is intolerant of any Irish people publicly declaring their
Protestantism and Britishness.
Well Deputy First Minister I have a message for you. I am
Irish as well as British. I am a Protestant and a Unionist
and you cannot deny me that right nor the benefits, which
flow from it, including a legitimate expression of my religious
and cultural heritage.
During the recent terrorist campaign 273 members of the Orange
Institution were murdered by the Provisional IRA of which
you were a leading member.
But you didn't talk about those murders at Bodenstown. Why
not?
Do those murders embarrass you now?
Would you prefer that they are forgotten about?
Do you want to write the 273 members of the Orange Institution
who were murdered by the Provisional IRA out of history?
I wear The Murdered Brethren Badge as a constant reminder
of the members of the Orange Institution who were murdered
- because we won't forget them and we won't allow them to
be written out of history just because it doesn't suit the
Sinn Fein version of Irish History that so many people born
and living on this island are, and wish to remain, British.
In his Bodenstown speech Martin McGuinness said that the
IRA had made significant contributions to the Peace Process.
I now challenge him to take one further step
.Deputy First Minister, if you are really genuine about building
on the Peace Process in Northern Ireland then condemn the
murder of those 273 members who were murdered by the Organisation
you led.
You must say clearly, without ambiguity, prevarication, conditionality
or obfuscation, that these murders of your fellow Irishmen
were wrong.
Deputy First Minister your Pledge of Office requires you
"to promote the interests of the whole community represented
in the Northern Ireland Assembly towards the goal of a shared
future".
Your attacks on the Orange Order are clearly in breach of
that Pledge.
Do you really want a shared future in Northern Ireland?
If so then step up to the mark and encourage the community
which you represent to share the Garvaghy Road with us for
just fifteen minutes once a year.
Or is that too much to ask from one who has pledged to promote
a shared future?
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