Easter is supposed to be a time of renewal. It’s also a time of hope. But as a writer I didn’t feel joyous this Easter.
Whilst staying in a hotel for a seasonal break, I was confronted with loud loyalist bandsmen and their fouled-mouthed hangers-on when going to breakfast. It was 9.30am. Some of those going to celebrate their band outing were teenagers.
The residents’ restaurant was full of young families. But as we waited to be seated, there were non-residents more interested in the bar than breakfast.
To my astonishment, it was open. I couldn’t wait to leave the hotel. I remarked at reception on exiting that opening a bar at that time of the morning was reckless.
A few hours later the hotel management emailed to say: “This was not a normal day within in the hotel and measures have already been put in place to ensure hotel residents are not impacted at any future event booked at the hotel.”
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The simplest way to do that is to close the bar during breakfast.
Young loyalists who want to partake in cultural events – and I stretch the definition of the word culture – need positive imagery from their seniors. The biggest threat to Orange parading is from a far too tolerant approach towards the drinking culture known around certain bands and their followers, which inevitably leads to clashes with police and debris-strewn streets.
The notion of checking out the loyalist marching season before escaping to a hotel is a deal-breaker for this columnist. So it’s Mayo or Donegal for the foreseeable.
At some stage, the whole loyalist culture dynamic has to decouple from its sectarian overtones, just as much as those of us in nationalism have to move beyond tokenism towards those who hold dear to a British identity. Within both are the greatest challenges for those advocating the inclusiveness of either unity or the union.
But even more disturbing and disheartening this Easter was the clear and sinister manipulation of young people in Derry by dissident republicans.
It would seem that some not-so-young militants have learned nothing from our conflict despite either them or members of their families wasting years in prison. They are deluded disruptors.
As JK Rowling wrote, “A villain’s strength lies in their ability to manipulate others”. Make no mistake: those involved in militant republicanism are anything but heroes or idealists. They are sinister maniacs, shady manipulators and schemers of murderous intent.
The sight of children making, carrying and throwing petrol bombs whilst their cowardly godfathers watch safely from afar is sickeningly stomach-churning. I remember the late Seamus Mallon MP saying of a former IRA godfather: “He’s got neither chick nor child and yet is all too willing to recruit the children of other families.” Seamus wasn’t far off the mark.
The former Children’s Commissioner, Koulla Yiasouma, condemned the use of children in conflict in Northern Ireland. She felt it could be possibly compared to a form of child abuse. The UN and Amnesty are more explicit.
The would-be child soldiers in Derry didn’t get their anticipated confrontation with the PSNI but settled for a disturbing attack on the media present.
The sight of children making, carrying and throwing petrol bombs whilst their cowardly godfathers watch safely from afar is stomach-churning
It is hard to imagine heaping more hurt onto the family and former partner of the murdered journalist Lyra McKee than for this to occur. A spokesperson for Saoradh said it “does not condone attacks on the media”. Nor does it seem to condemn them. Recognise the lingo? Well, it wasn’t licked off the ground.
Society has a huge responsibility to protect the vulnerable and those most at risk – and at the top of that long list are children. We can’t afford to have another lost generation harbouring resentment and driven by retaliation.
Loyalist and republican youths need to be weaned off the glorified myths and disturbing reverence for a past which failed everyone.
