Roy Garland is an honorary member of the Reform Group

The Irish News – 23 May 2011

The presence of Unionist politicians in Dublin during Queen Elizabeth’s visit was encouraging. She helped cut through suspicions and misunderstandings. Hopefully she has opened a new chapter in relationships throughout these islands.

Even in childhood I longed to be Irish as well as British and unionist. This despite the fact that, in the name of Ireland, the IRA seemed opposed to us just for being what we were.

In England my consciousness of an Irish identity with an Orange stripe, grew as I studied near the heart of a once great imperial nation. By the mid 60s I set about finding my roots in the border counties.

This on reflection represented the start of a friendship with people in the Irish Republic but it was with trepidation that I set out from the Shankill Road because the Republic seemed an alien and oppressive place to visit.

At first I defied all this and even attached Orange lilies to the front of my vehicle parked in Ballyshannon Donegal. On my return I was horrified to see people spitting on the lilies. As discretion seemed the better part of valour I then removed the flowers. The bitterness towards Orange lilies was hard to understand when I saw Orange and Easter lilies growing freely side by side in Donegal gardens.

During the early 1960s I was discreetly distributing leaflets bearing Union Flags with a few Protestant Telegraphs. After a Church of Ireland service in Cork the leaflets were accepted by worshipers but was greeted with silent stares. Protestants in those parts had suffered long and preferred keeping their heads down.

I felt proud when invited to join an Orange parade at Rockcurry County Monaghan and was thrilled to find distant relatives there. An elderly lady recalled my grandfather visiting Garland’s Hand and Pen Orange Hall in the 1930s. There I was presented me with a treasured photograph of my parents visiting Monaghan by pony and trap in the 1920s.

Members of my family survived centuries in no-man’s land on the edge of the English Pale. Eighteen were massacred by Irish rebels in 1600. Yet James Garland, described as one of the Pale gentry, was known as “the Earl’s man” (Hugh O’Neill) while his brother Roger fought with Henry Bagenal for the English. As Old English their loyalty was to English Monarch and the Pope in Rome but as Royalists they fought against King Billy.

While I could understand the desire for Irish “freedom” that freedom was not fully extended to dissenters who valued the Union. To this day the Irish Constitution’s Preamble denies pro-Brits in the Republic an Irish identity. Despite this I realised we all needed to cultivate human relationships throughout the island(s).

I played a central role in founding the Guild of Uriel near Dundalk to facilitate friendship between people from divergent backgrounds north and south. The main traditions and dissenters were represented and engaged with us and each other. On one notable occasion the late Garret FitzGerald joined an unusual meeting involving Loyalists, Unionists, Nationalists, Sinn Fein, Official Republicans and others in Newry.

After a submission to the Peace Forum at Dublin Castle I was given a fascinating private tour of the ancient ramparts. I felt privileged to be in that crucible of British/Irish history. Later I accepted an invitation to a private meeting with President McAleese at Aras an Uactharain preparing for the first Twelfth July event. Later I led a Unionist delegation to the Department of Foreign Affairs at Iveagh House, Dublin.

At Glencree Reconciliation Centre, a former 1798 British Army base in the Wicklow Hills, Welsh, English, Scottish politicians joined Irish politicians and activists from north and south. I attended dinners of the Dublin 1916-21 Club but also met Princess Anne with the British ambassador at his residence. I became a proud honorary member of the Dublin based Reform Group, a pro-British Group seeking a place in Irish society.

The reaction of fellow Unionists was not always supportive. I was disciplined and told to get back to the Republic. Yet on the ground I found support especially among Loyalists although a poster appeared near my home damning me as a traitor.

I believe the historic visit of Queen Elizabeth opens up new possibilities and could free us all from old enmities. Both parts of Ireland have changed and are increasingly conceding the right of people to be whatever they choose to be. People can criticize but as Charles Parnell said, “No man has a right to say to his country: ‘Thus far shalt thou go, and no further’”.

Article reproduced courtesy of The Irish News