4 November 1999 Edition
Sickening sectarianism
The sectarian killing of the three Quinn children on the Carnany estate in Ballymoney during Drumcree 1998 was a tragedy which threatened to bring even the Orange Order to its senses.
Senior members of the Order lost the stomach for confrontation on Drumcree hill as the extent of the Quinn family's loss played out in the media.
This week, Garfield Gilmour was convicted for his part in the killing. His mother was quick to defend her son's character as a ``decent, caring and well brought up young gentleman'', but it also emerged that, in a search of his home after his arrest, UVF cards were found similar to those sent out to Catholics on the Carnany estate, some of which had contained bullets, `encouraging' them to leave the area.
The morning after the tragedy, senior Orangeman the Reverend William Bingham, preaching in his chapel, said that ``a 15-minute walk down the Garvaghy Road by the Orange Order would be a very hollow victory, because it would be in the shadow of three coffins of little boys.''
Now, however, the clergyman has changed his mind. Because Gilmour was not a member of the Orange Order, he argues, the Order should be absolved of any blame for the triple killing.
And worst of all, Chrissie Quinn, the mother of the three boys, has been criticised in Ballymoney because ``she went out of her way to blacken the Orangemen at Drumcree''.
The sad reality which such hypocrisy displays is the naked sectarianism with which Orangeism is imbued. This sickness led directly to the death of the Quinn children and still poisons many parts of the North and indeed the political life of the country.
Senior members of the Order lost the stomach for confrontation on Drumcree hill as the extent of the Quinn family's loss played out in the media.
This week, Garfield Gilmour was convicted for his part in the killing. His mother was quick to defend her son's character as a ``decent, caring and well brought up young gentleman'', but it also emerged that, in a search of his home after his arrest, UVF cards were found similar to those sent out to Catholics on the Carnany estate, some of which had contained bullets, `encouraging' them to leave the area.
The morning after the tragedy, senior Orangeman the Reverend William Bingham, preaching in his chapel, said that ``a 15-minute walk down the Garvaghy Road by the Orange Order would be a very hollow victory, because it would be in the shadow of three coffins of little boys.''
Now, however, the clergyman has changed his mind. Because Gilmour was not a member of the Orange Order, he argues, the Order should be absolved of any blame for the triple killing.
And worst of all, Chrissie Quinn, the mother of the three boys, has been criticised in Ballymoney because ``she went out of her way to blacken the Orangemen at Drumcree''.
The sad reality which such hypocrisy displays is the naked sectarianism with which Orangeism is imbued. This sickness led directly to the death of the Quinn children and still poisons many parts of the North and indeed the political life of the country.