Will we ever learn to live well with cultural differences?

A little further up the coast, many Fermanagh folk have holiday homes at Rossnowlagh or just visit for the day to mingle with surfers enjoying the Atlantic.

It seems an unusual setting for an Orange parade, and although it didn’t take place this Covid year, I have memories of being sent there as a journalist to cover the event.

Donegal is in Ulster, of course, but not in Northern Ireland, even though much of it is further north than many places that are. The vagaries of Partition.

And the Orange demonstration – the only one in the Republic – had a unique feel with gardai directing traffic as families enjoy picnics and older men in suits rest on the grass with an ice cream after the long walk. All very civilised, no?

We were reminded recently that many Ulster Protestants found themselves on the 'wrong side' of a Border when their fellow Unionists jettisoned Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan simply so that the rest of the six counties could have a greater Protestant majority.

In his book on Partition, Johnston McMaster recalls Donegal Orangemen’s anger at being excluded, describing them as “Carson’s betrayed children”.

McMaster even suggests that among the many Protestants still living in Donegal are generations who inherited that anger; a mirror image perhaps of Nationalists who also found themselves on the northern side of the Border, and have carried the inter-generational sense of being betrayed too.

Neither of our main identity tribes on the island are simple homogeneous groups. It’s complicated!

In a recent television programme, there were references to an incendiary speech by Sir Edward Carson at the Twelfth in Finaghy, near Belfast, in 1920 when he issued a dire warning of action against the British government.

That same day, however, at the Twelfth in Clones the Grand Master of the Orange Order in Monaghan expressed his disgust at Unionist plans, and in Maguiresbridge, the Rev. J. C. Taylor accused the Ulster Unionist Council of “throwing the loyal men of Monaghan, Cavan and Donegal to the wolves to save their own skin”.

And yet the Orange tradition along the Border, on both sides of it, retains a presence 100 years after Partition.

Miriam O’Callaghan’s RTE documentary a few weeks ago featured the Protestant community in Drum, Co. Monaghan, and not far across the Border in Fermanagh this week, an Orange parade was held in the village of Magheraveely for the first time in many years.

At Fermanagh demonstrations in normal circumstances, the cross-Border lodges are given a prominent welcome; perhaps reflecting the historical affinity in west Ulster, in addition to the common characteristics of rural folk in this part of the world, as opposed to those hard-nosed eastern urban members.

At one stage a hundred years ago, consideration was actually being given to placing Fermanagh and Tyrone into the new Free State, but a four-county Northern Ireland was considered not viable.

The bond between all Border people runs deep.

It would be naïve and indeed foolish to pretend that the Orange Order is universally welcomed in the west, and there can be tensions at this time of the year.

But in places like Rossnowlagh, Magheraveely and many others, tradition and culture are important to many, and it’s expressed well; and if a society is to be inclusive, it should be respectful to all difference.

Respect, though, is a two-way street, and the expression of culture isn’t always as dignified in other areas of Northern Ireland.

At times, it would seem that the triumphalist, even angry nature of that expression in parts of Belfast and elsewhere is a million miles away from their western brethren.

Whatever the genesis and reason for the 'tradition' of bonfires, there are places where it has become a focus for unacceptable behaviour.

That can be a danger to their own community, with a disregard for people’s property and personal health and safety, or an excuse to show hatred to other communities.

What place do images of a Sinn Fein representative in a noose, burning election posters and Tricolours, signs of KAT (Kill all Taigs), have in a respectful Orange culture?

They should be condemned, as should provocative behaviour on both sides of interfaces.

I was in Belfast last week and listened to some Loyalist leaders; I was surprised at the level of anger over the Northern Ireland Protocol, and what many felt is a betrayal, and there is certainly a heightened level of tension this year.

However, even in previous years, the celebration of Orange culture can have a more aggressive feel, in some places, at least.

There are areas in Belfast, for example, where local agreement between the communities has toned down the atmosphere and in the modern post-conflict world, a more secular and progressive attitude of learning to live well with difference is gaining ground.

And, even in difficult interface areas, many responsible community activists on both sides work incredibly hard to keep people out of trouble.

As ever, though, it’s the flashpoints that gain the attention and, sadly, the focus tends to be on the strident voices of entitlement within Loyalism, and the irresponsible and unacceptable attitudes and dangerous behaviour doesn’t do anyone any good ... least of all their own community.

It would seem, therefore, that if contentious issues cannot be resolved that regulation is needed.

In 2016, a Commission on Flags, Identity, Culture and Expression was set up and has completed its work, with a report which cost more than £750,000 forwarded to the Executive Office last year.

To date, it has not been published, but when this difficult summer is over it is surely time the contents of the report were revealed and recommendations implemented to prevent many of the problems which don’t seem to be going away.

People can’t act with impunity, and regulation is needed.

People often muse over the true nature of the Orange Order; is it a religious Christian organisation, a political one, or a cultural one?

The purists say it’s based on Biblical principles; perhaps today, it is a combination of all three, but runs into trouble when the correct balance of those three is out of equilibrium.

What we can say is that times have changed. Not only is the age profile of the reducing membership a much older one generally, the power and influence of the Orange Order is much diminished from years gone by, when that power wasn’t always used positively.

That said, the fact is that culture and tradition remain important to people.

In Fermanagh, there are no bonfires, and the level of contention in the east isn’t present here. But even in Enniskillen, where community relations are good, issues over culture and identity are present.

Drive out the Cornagrade Road and you’ll see black flags, pictures of hunger strikers, and other flags. Come into Enniskillen from the Belfast side, and lampposts are festooned with Union Jacks and other flags.

A lack of regulation means that police don’t have a law to back them up in removing any flags, and I imagine would be reluctant to get involved in any such controversy.

The Cornagrade Road has, I understand, an organisation called the Enniskillen Independent Republican Committee, which is responsible for erecting the flags there, and while I’m unaware of any Loyalist organisation as such, there’s an ad hoc group which collects money and raises their emblems.

It’s a personal opinion, but I don’t think the community at large particularly wants to see territory marked out like this; and again, protocols and regulation should be in place for the whole range of the Commission’s remit on flags, identity, culture and expression, including memorials.

Expression of identity shouldn’t be taken away, but should be done in an agreed way.

You’d like to think that as we move forward in a shared society, everyone’s culture would be respected, including respecting your own, and that each identity would be expressed in a way which doesn’t offend.