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Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland
  Orange Standard

Welcome Move To Tackle Need In Protestant Areas

Article 1 ~ May 2006

The Orange Order welcomes the promise of Government assistance for Protestant areas of Northern Ireland, but supports the view that the £33 million pledged over the next three years is just the start of a long process.

Many parts of Northern Ireland have suffered badly as a result of the 35 years of the Troubles and political turmoil in this Province.

But Protestant districts of inner Belfast, and also parts of Londonderry, Portadown, Lurgan, Lisburn and other large provincial towns have also suffered to varying degrees.

And the Protestant communities along the border, especially in South Armagh and Fermanagh, have also been very badly hit through the loss of loved ones and the intimidation of farmers and rural dwellers.

While the £33 million is most welcome, it is really only the start. The very fact that 12 of the most socially deprived 15 wards in Northern Ireland are in Protestant areas speaks for itself.

The myth that Protestant areas were more prosperous than Roman Catholic districts, and that Protestants had privileges and benefits not enjoyed by their Roman Catholic neighbours has been well and truly destroyed.

It was never true in the first place, of course, but some politically motivated people liked to put the myth about, and it was often swallowed by left wingers and 'liberals' of Britain and elsewhere.

Successive British Governments bent over backwards to be generous to the Roman Catholic minority. Legislation has guaranteed them jobs, and also a 50 per cent recruitment to the Police Force which is not justified by the size of their population.

The housing authorities pulled out all the stops to ensure that Roman Catholic areas affected by redevelopment has excellent housing provided to allow families to move back into these areas.

By contrast, Protestant areas like the Shankill, Sandy Row, lower Newtownards Road, and Donegall Road were decimated by redevelopment and the exodus of families due to republican violence.

Since the 1970s, the population of the Greater Shankill has declined from 78,000 to 28,000, and that of Sandy Row from 12,500 to 2,500.

Families promised new houses in their own areas were scattered to Carrickfergus, Antrim, Newtownabbey, Newtownards, Bangor and Craigavon.

Large swathes of the Protestant areas were left derelict and wastelands. It was a miserable story, and for the people left in the rundown and decimated areas the difficulties were compounded by the lack of job opportunities, and the inadequate education facilities.

It was not just Belfast which suffered from the neglect by authorities. In places like the Fountain in Londonderry, and Portadown West, the neglect in many aspects is all too obvious.

Now, it seems, the Government is prepared to redress the balance. But communities deprived for so long, will judge by results.

New housing has to be a priority in the declining Protestant areas of Belfast and other places. But jobs are also needed, and also a determined effort to provide better facilities in schools, and more assistance for educational facilities.

It goes without saying that the £33 million must be pumped into the areas in a well planned and well organised manner. It must reach the communities which need the new housing, jobs and schools, and the onus will be on all right-thinking people to throw their weight behind this, and for political, churchmen and responsible leaders of public opinion to play their full part.

This can only be the start of a long process to bring back pride, purpose, and prosperity to once great districts which have been at the receiving end of violence, terror, and Government neglect for over three decades.

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