2 April 1998 Edition
Ormeau survey ``barely credible''
By Ned Kelly
Professor Bob Eccleshall, head of the Department of Politics at Queen's University Belfast, has dismissed the research findings of Queen's student Vincent McKenna who, under the guise of the Ormeau Road `Charter for Change', claimed to have carried out a survey which found that 80% of Catholics would be happy to allow Orange marches down the Lower Ormeau Road.
The `survey' was seized on by Orangemen and Apprentice Boys as justification for their failure to enter into dialogue with the Lower Ormeau Concerned Community (LOCC).
Professor Eccleshall said that the ``methodology [used] is seriously flawed and its findings are barely credible.'' He said a professional study would have dealt with the complex issue of contentious parades in a completely different way. One such study by Coopers & Lybrand in 1996 found that 95% of residents wanted parades re-routed.
Eccleshall's letter, it is now thought, will put paid to those claims made by McKenna and the Ballynafeigh Apprentice Boys that a deal on marches through the Lower Ormeau is possible without talks between the Apprentice Boys and representatives of the Lower Ormeau community. A deal announced at a press conference last week claimed that Charter for Change and the Apprentice Boys could meet a number of conditions regarding the first Orange parade down the road on Easter Monday.
In rubbishing the deal LOCC questioned why the Apprentice Boys insist on taking this route and asked them to ``face up to their responsibility, address the legitimate fears and grievances of our community and enter into dialogue.''
Sinn Fein's South Belfast Councillor, Sean Hayes commenting after the McKenna press conference at the Ballynafeigh Orange Hall said, ``This is a smokescreen created purely for their own interests and will serve absolutely no-one. Vincent McKenna doesn't represent the views and concerns of the community. The Orange Order is well aware of this fact. It should stop engaging in stunts and meet Gerard Rice.''
Prof Eccleshall's criticisms of the report centred on the number of researchers used and the timescale of the survey. Also he was extremely alarmed at the number of residents from the Upper and Lower Ormeau Road who didn't believe a survey had actually occurred. Gerard Rice of the LOCC said, ``we have been unable to find a single resident who actually filled in McKenna's survey.''
McKenna claims to have interviewed 400 Catholics and Protestants out of the 9,200 registered voters in the area.
Despite Prof Eccleshall's plea, ``that nobody would be foolish enough to use the survey to give pseudo-scientific respectability to opinions'' the Apprentice Boys entered into dialogue with the now discredited McKenna.
Professor Bob Eccleshall, head of the Department of Politics at Queen's University Belfast, has dismissed the research findings of Queen's student Vincent McKenna who, under the guise of the Ormeau Road `Charter for Change', claimed to have carried out a survey which found that 80% of Catholics would be happy to allow Orange marches down the Lower Ormeau Road.
The `survey' was seized on by Orangemen and Apprentice Boys as justification for their failure to enter into dialogue with the Lower Ormeau Concerned Community (LOCC).
Professor Eccleshall said that the ``methodology [used] is seriously flawed and its findings are barely credible.'' He said a professional study would have dealt with the complex issue of contentious parades in a completely different way. One such study by Coopers & Lybrand in 1996 found that 95% of residents wanted parades re-routed.
Eccleshall's letter, it is now thought, will put paid to those claims made by McKenna and the Ballynafeigh Apprentice Boys that a deal on marches through the Lower Ormeau is possible without talks between the Apprentice Boys and representatives of the Lower Ormeau community. A deal announced at a press conference last week claimed that Charter for Change and the Apprentice Boys could meet a number of conditions regarding the first Orange parade down the road on Easter Monday.
In rubbishing the deal LOCC questioned why the Apprentice Boys insist on taking this route and asked them to ``face up to their responsibility, address the legitimate fears and grievances of our community and enter into dialogue.''
Sinn Fein's South Belfast Councillor, Sean Hayes commenting after the McKenna press conference at the Ballynafeigh Orange Hall said, ``This is a smokescreen created purely for their own interests and will serve absolutely no-one. Vincent McKenna doesn't represent the views and concerns of the community. The Orange Order is well aware of this fact. It should stop engaging in stunts and meet Gerard Rice.''
Prof Eccleshall's criticisms of the report centred on the number of researchers used and the timescale of the survey. Also he was extremely alarmed at the number of residents from the Upper and Lower Ormeau Road who didn't believe a survey had actually occurred. Gerard Rice of the LOCC said, ``we have been unable to find a single resident who actually filled in McKenna's survey.''
McKenna claims to have interviewed 400 Catholics and Protestants out of the 9,200 registered voters in the area.
Despite Prof Eccleshall's plea, ``that nobody would be foolish enough to use the survey to give pseudo-scientific respectability to opinions'' the Apprentice Boys entered into dialogue with the now discredited McKenna.