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Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland
  Press Statements

Belfast Agreement

2 May 1998

The Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland on 15th April announced that they required clarification on a number of points regarding 'The Agreement' and could not at that stage recommend it to the people of Ulster.

Having sought such clarification including a further request for a meeting with the Prime Minister, the Grand Lodge Officers regret that the request for a meeting has not yet been acceded to (It must be remembered that a meeting with the Prime Minister was first sought last October).

It has to be said however that clarification has been forthcoming from a variety of other sources including statements by Ministers in Parliament and the meeting between the Prime Minister and members of Sinn Fein last Monday.

With the half yearly meetings of the County Grand Lodges commencing early next week the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland has no other option but to advise the County Grand Lodges that the many areas of difficulty in the Agreement have not been satisfactorily resolved.

Therefore the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland cannot recommend the Agreement to the County Grand Lodges and their Members.

The opinion of Grand Lodge is that the Agreement provides for such things as;

  • Dublin interference in the internal affairs of Northern Ireland.
  • The prospect of an undemocratically accountable Assembly.
  • The prospect of unrepentant terrorists in the executive of the proposed Assembly.
  • The Maryfield Secretariat and the Anglo Irish Agreement in another guise.
The decommissioning of illegal terrorist weaponry is not adequately dealt with despite public assurances and we have the telling comments of Mitchell McLoughlin of Sinn Fein who said that there might be partial decommissioning in two years if there was a British withdrawal.

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