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Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland
  Orange Standard

Strength Of Southern Orangeism

Article 3 ~ September 2003

Within the broad Orange 'family' there is the greatest respect and admiration for the brethren of the three Southern Ulster counties of Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal for the way they have managed to keep the Orange flag flying during the past 81 years.

Detached from the United Kingdom in 1922 and with many Orangemen and their families leaving the new Irish Free State to live in Northern Ireland, mainland Britain and Canada, it would have been easy for the remaining Orangemen who opted to stay on in their home counties to throw in the towel as far as the Order was concerned.

That certaily did not happen. Quite the contrary in fact, and down the years those Orangemen of Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal have maintained, with quiet dignity and resolution, their stand as Protestants and Orangemen in a State where Protestants are a very small minority.

The Orangemen who cross the border each July 12 and other parading days to walk with their brethren in Fermanagh, Tyrone and Armagh have earned the admiration of the onlookers, and often there has been applause from the footpaths as the banners are recognised.

For Orangemen from Northern Ireland who have travelled into the heart of Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal to attend church parades and other functions, it has been an inspiring experience. To attend largely attended church services in places like Kilmore and Ashfield in Cavan, or Orange ceremonies in Monaghan town, Billyhill and other places, has been very enjoyable, and the fellowship afterwards at nearby church halls has been exhillerating.

Those Orangemen and their families are held in high regard by their neighbours, and the Gardai, who police their church parades, dealing almost entirely with traffic matters, speak very highly of the Orangemen and their deportment.

These days there is only one Orange demonstration, apart from church services, in the border counties, and that is the highly impressive Rossnowlagh demonstration, held on the Saturday before the Twelfth and now attended by thousands. No July 12 parades have bee held in Monaghan and Cavan since the 1930s when republicans physically prevented them, and since then the Orangemen have crossed the border to attend the Northern Ireland demonstrations, mostly as guests of Co. Fermanagh and Co. Armagh.

Photographs in the Orange Standard in the past two years have featured impressive Orange ceremonies including banner unfurlings in Raphoe in Donegal, as well as at a number of centres in Monaghan and Cavan.

New members have been initiated into Lodges in all three counties, and there is a great feeling of optimism in the ranks of the Orangemen.

Perhaps, we in Northern Ireland have been too pre-occupied in the past with the happenings in our part of the world, but whatever the reason, we have often shamefully neglected the Orange folk on the other side of the Irish border.

That situation has improved in recent years and there is far more appreciation now for the stand of Orange people in the Republic, and the respect they have earned from the huge Roman Catholic majority.

It hasn't been easy down the years for the Orangemen of these three Ulster counties, or for those in Leitrim and Dublin, but they have stood their ground, have consolidated, and are now fully accepted as good citizens as well as ardent Protestants - Protestants who are loyal to their Church and organisations.

It's good that there is increasing inter-change between the brethren and sisters in Northern Ireland and those in the Republic, and it is a trend that should be encouraged. Numbers are on the up and up in Monaghan, Cavan and Donegal, and there is no feeling of despondency in those counties, rather a feeling of quiet confidence befitting a people accepted in their country as good citizens prepared to stand for their own tradition and heritage.

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