Orange U-turn
On Tuesday 28 July Robert Saulters, the Grand Master of the
Orange Order, disowned remarks he had made the previous weekend
when he said that the Order should talk to residents groups. He
had previously said, ``I think talks with these groups is
inevitable. The Grand Lodge will meet on Saturday to discuss the
Drumcree situation and I will be suggesting that we change our
policy.''
But, by Tuesday, the hope that the order were willing to resolve
the parades issue by dialogue, rather than by violence and
intimidation, was extinguished.
Saulters, having obviously been leaned on by loyalist hardliners,
stated ``The policy of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland is clear,
Orangemen cannot in all conscience talk to certain resident
groups that are manipulated by Sinn Fein/IRA.''
This U-turn will undoubtedly bolster the Apprentice Boys of
Derry's stance of not talking to nationalist residents of the
Bogside before their proposed parade on 8 August and further
escalating the tension in the city.
Dara O'Hagan, SF Assembly member for Upper Bann, expressed
``disappointment'' at the Orange leader's about-face and added ``I
would urge Mr Saulters to reconsider his position and stand by
his earlier comments.''
His diminishing power within the Order and dwindling respect he
has in the broader unionist community calls into question how
much longer he can remain leader of an organisation determined to
march stridently back into the past.
A spokesperson for the Lower Ormeau Concerned Community echoed
this enquiry in calling for the Orange leader to resign and
adding ``The antics of Robert Saulters give us no confident that
the Orange order leadership is yet ready to begin to resolve the
problems which parades cause in our society.''
![[An Phoblacht]](http://republican-news.org/graphics/title_gifs/aprn.gif)