Quinn agrees with right to march but sees a need to adapt

Editorial Department • Published 8 Jul 2010 16:00 Comments 1 Comment

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Peter Quinn.

Former member of the Parades Commission and former President of the GAA, Mr. Peter Quinn, has asserted the right of the Orange Order to promote all aspects of its culture, including its marching culture.

In a wide-ranging piece written for today's supplement publication in the Impartial Reporter "A Culture of Respect", the Teemore man draws a comparison to the "tolerance of difference" in the days of his youth, to the tension he returned to with his family in the mid-1980s after 25 years living outside Fermanagh.

"There are many who claim that the root cause of the recent problems in this part of our Island was a 'clash of cultures'. The Orange Order claims to be both a cultural and a religious organisation and I fully accept that it has every right to promote all aspects of its culture, including its 'marching' culture; I believe the vast majority of other nationalists do too. I recognise that all culture, Protestant or Catholic, Unionist or Nationalist, Irish or British, Polish or Nigerian, has to have its roots in tradition and history and values; those aspects all to contribute to our sense of identity and are crucial to our sense of community. They are no less important to one denomination, or one community, than to another," he states.

He urges the organisation to adapt to change. "But I also believe that culture, while growing out of the past must live in the present, accepting and building on the changes in society generally, and in its own community in particular, if it is to flower and bear fruit in the future. If it fails to recognise, accept and adapt to change, it will wither and ultimately die. If those who promote it fail to invest in harnessing change and in explaining its role and its values to others, it will become marginalised, irrelevant and the preserve of an out-of-touch minority. We have multiple cultures in our current society, with two large and identifiably distinct sets of values in Fermanagh. Acceptance of that reality challenges us to choose; we can allow both cultures to grow and flower in tandem, or we can pit those cultures one against the other, and, in process, destroy both," he adds.

He admits that in spite of his Parades Commission role, he knows little of the Orange Order's aims, policies, membership or structures. "I suspect that, in that respect, I am not unique among Nationalists," he writes.

Of his youth, he paints a picture of a very different era to today. "Growing up in a predominantly Nationalist community along the Fermanagh-Cavan border, in the innocent days of more than half a century ago, we were never particularly conscious of the Orange Order. We knew about the 12th July, of course, when there was a 'parade' somewhere in the County, but it was no big deal - just a holiday for one section of the community and an important day for them. Equally, when we went to Ballyconnell sports on the 15th August, none of our Protestant neighbours seemed to have any problems with that either; in fact, a small number of them would arrive in the town, after the milking, to join in the liquid aspect of the festivities.

"That was an era in which Protestant and Catholic farmers worked together at harvesting, visited one and others' houses at night, helped out when there were problems and lived in harmony. Whatever differences there might have been as a result of attending different schools and different churches, or voting for different candidates, never became a basis for division or disagreement. So for me, growing up, the Orange Order was just another organisation about which we knew very little; it was neither good nor bad - it was just there. But we all recognised that it was very important to many of its members whom we knew well. According to the bush telegraph, some, probably most, of our Protestant neighbours were members, though clearly not all of them opted for the parade when there was hay to be saved. But whether or not they were members mattered not the slightest to our attitude to them or our day-to-day relationships with them. We lived among them, we worked with them, we liked them, we visited their houses and we accepted them as important to us and our community. It was much later that I discovered that our simple, Teemore view was not a universal one".

Having lived outside Fermanagh for 25 years, he returned in the mid-1980s to "a different place".

"That was a time when the marching season, with the 12th July as its centrepiece, had become a period which was marked by political disruption and communal conflict in the North . . .Ultimately, it reached the point where parades of all kinds had to be approved and, eventually, I was persuaded to take a position in which I would be adjudicating on such applications. During that period, I discovered that the Orange parades of the 12th July were not the biggest source of irritation for most Nationalists - not by a long shot! Other marches provoked much greater resentment, but the Orange parades became entangled in a wider conflict.

He urges the communities to go forward "in parallel". "We have multiple cultures in our current society, with two large and identifiably distinct sets of values in Fermanagh. Acceptance of that reality challenges us to choose; we can allow both cultures to grow and flower in tandem, or we can pit those cultures one against the other, and, in process, destroy both.

"I have a very simple philosophy: if we cannot go forward together, at least let us have the sense to go forward in parallel, with each side allowing space and recognition to the other. Let us cherish, explain and invest in our respective cultures, keep them up-to-date and relevant, link the past to the future and keep culture from being reduced to a relic of the past, which constrains all our futures. That is not an impossible aspiration. Neither is it a concession to any other group or view; it is a civilised response to the differences which exist and which define our view of ourselves and our relationships with others. In a modern society, we should all be prepared not simply to tolerate, but also to celebrate each others' identity, to appreciate and tolerate difference, and to pursue our own aspirations without being offended by how our neighbours celebrate their culture."

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 08 Jul 10

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thecharlieman
4 posts
Jul 9, 00:40
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"He urges the [Orange Order] to adapt to change". Mr Quinn should also use his influence to end the mixing of politics and sport in the GAA. Flying the flag of the Irish Republic and playing their anthem while living in the UK is hardly adapting to change.

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