Better protection for Orange halls needed

Better protection for Orange halls needed

10 August 2022

A LOCAL politician has called for a security fund to be established to protect rural buildings, in particular, Orange halls.

The appeal by Slieve Croob councillor Alan Lewis comes after recent attacks on property belonging to a prominent member of the Loyal Orders near Clough and an Orange hall in Maghera.

He has written to Stormont justice minister, Naomi Long, asking her to set up a new fund which could be administered by the district’s Policing and Community Safety Partnership which could make finance available to fit fireproof doors, install security cameras and fit alarms and security lighting.

Branding the recent attacks in Clough and Maghera as “sectarian hate crimes”, Cllr Lewis has called for greater police engagement with the Loyal Orders to prevent such incidents which he claims are increasing across South Down.

The UUP politician said the Department of Justice must realise that attacks on Orange halls are part of what he described as part of a “concentrated effort” to damage property and raise tension and that funds must be made available for the protection of such property.

And he has confirmed that he has written to Stormont justice minister Naomi Long, requesting that her department considers establishing a fund for the protection of rural Orange halls.

Cllr Lewis said that over the past few years, there has been a well-documented rise in attacks and vandalism of rural Orange Halls. 

“Maghera Orange Hall was targeted recently when paint was dubbed on the wall and sectarian graffiti written on the front of the building,” he said. “In addition, a set of ladders was found nearby, suggesting that there may have been an attempt to burn the hall before they were disturbed.”

Cllr Lewis said Orange lodges which run their respective halls rely on relatively limited funds, suggesting any additional resources secured from Newry, Mourne and Down Council or the district’s Policing Community and Safety Partnership would go towards outreach work, community engagement and youth activities.

He said such funding would be “minimal and not cover the cost of security equipment, arguing that it would be “unfair” to expect lodges, which provide an outlet for the local rural community, to divert funding from worthwhile projects into infrastructure to protect their property due to the actions of others.

Cllr Lewis added: “If this was any other cultural group under concentrated, systematic attack, it wouldn’t be tolerated and I believe there would be genuine outcry from all sections of our community.

“Politicians would be united in condemnation, but as it is Orange halls being targeted, the feeling of those associated with them is that nobody cares. It is accepted, almost tolerated, that the community which uses these halls is expected to sweep up, scrub off the paint and get on with it.”