Where debating everything under the sun is only the beginning

Irish nationalists and Catholics have compared the Orange Order marching through their neighbourhoods to the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) marching through an African American neighbourhood.  The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association of the 1960s-1970s, described them as "Britain's Ku Klux Klan" who wrote to Fionnbarra Ó Dochartaigh:

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We viewed the [Orange Order] as similar to the KKK – so bare-faced and confident enough in the bigoted status quo that they wore bowler hats and sashes rather than white robes and pointed hoods.

........The Orange Order which holds parades to express loyalty to the British crown each summer, is seen by most Catholics as hostile. Parades can have heavy sectarian undertones, featuring songs that celebrate Protestant victories in conflicts as distant as the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.

Some of these parades, and their routes, are more than two hundred years old, and this deep history makes unionists reluctant to alter their customs. Retaining these cultural expressions is, unionists say, a way to preserve a Protestant heritage that they fear is slowly eroding, first through partial separation from Westminster through devolved government and then through the gradual demographic shift toward a Catholic plurality in Northern Ireland. Protestants make up 48 percent while Catholics comprise 45 percent of the country's population of 1.8 million, according to the 2011 census............

Sinn Féin has secured the single biggest number of first preference votes in Northern Ireland's local government elections, while across the border in the Republic it won 25% of the vote and its highest number of councillors.

Sinn Fein emerge as the majority party on new Mid-Ulster Council
As expected Sinn Fein emerged as the largest party on the new Mid-Ulster super council securing 18 of the 40 seats up for grabs.

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has described the local, European and byelections as a “notice to quit” for the Government and he said there should be a general election now.
“The sooner the election is called the better,” he told reporters at the Dublin West byelection count. “My suspicion is the Government will hang in as long as at all possible and remember they’re taking €2 billion out at the next budget. So this is going to continue.”

The Dublin Central TD said this was “not just a moment in time” or “a flash in the pan. I think something profound has happened and I think people are expecting and prepared to vote for a different kind of politics.”

Thankfully the majority of people in the Irish Republic are more sensible and decent Catholics.