HIGH price of parades
Nine lodges seeking total of £141K public funds for parades. Price tag for clean-up after single march last year? – £3 million
by Ciarán Barnes
24/04/2006
Thousands of pounds of community relations cash could be used to fund Orange Order parades in the summer.
Daily Ireland has learned than nine Orange lodges have applied to the Northern Ireland Events Company for £141,729 (€204,000) of grant aid to stage July 12 parades.
If successful, the applications will eat up almost a third of the company’s £450,000 (€650,000) Community Festivals Fund budget. A decision on the applications is expected on May 1.
This is the first time the Orange Order has asked for this type of public funding, although it has received small amounts of cash in the past from the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure.
To secure financial backing, an applicant has to project a positive image and demonstrate that the event in question will attract tourists.
After a rerouted Orange Order parade on Belfast’s Springfield Road last year, loyalist rioters caused more than £3 million (€4.3 million) of damage. Orange Order members were captured on camera attacking the PSNI with missiles. More than 60 people were arrested in some of the worst violence seen in the North since the height of the Troubles.
SDLP assembly member John Dallat has called on the Northern Ireland Events Company to direct funding away from the Orange Order and into more positive projects. The East Derry politician said the Orange Order did not project a positive image.
“The NIEC has not been particularly good in how it has paid out money,” he said.
“The public would much rather see this cash injected into tourism projects, rather than loyalist parades.
“I have my eye on the NIEC. It is not living up to what it was set up to do. It may be in the interests of the audit office to take a keen look at how the NIEC distributes public money,” added Mr Dallat.
A spokeswoman for the Orange Order accused Mr Dallat of taking a “cheap shot” at the organisation. She said the order deserved funding because it was trying to move forward and promote tourism in the North.
“It’s a real shame that Mr Dallat feels this way. Sometimes it is just too easy to take a cheap shot at the order,” she said.
“We were as disappointed as anyone else about the events on the Springfield Road last year. But that was just one parade out of more than 3,000. People need to look at the bigger picture.
“It would be a shame if the Northern Ireland Events Company based its decision on just one event.”
An events company spokeswoman confirmed that the company had received nine applications for funding from Orange lodges under the Community Festivals Fund.
“The total amount requested is £141,729. The applications are still being assessed,” she said.
