The Twelfth: Benn's first NI challenge
The culmination of the Loyalist marching season has often been marred by violence; this year there is an executive in place and no signs of major disruption yet
On the assumption that most of my readers do not live in Northern Ireland, which I think is accurate, I will take this a little bit slowly to try to avoid bemusement, but readers in or familiar with Northern Ireland will have to forgive me if there is an occasional element of explaining what, for them, the dogs in the street know. I hope you’ll bear with me.
This Friday is 12 July. For many that is a date of standard insignificance—Henry VIII’s last marriage, the authorisation of the Medal of Honor, the birthday of Bill Cosby and Lionel Jospin—but in Northern Ireland it is the Twelfth, sometimes known as Orangemen’s Day, a bank holiday which commemorates the victory of the Protestant William III, William of Orange, over the Catholic James II and VII at the Battle of the Boyne in 16901. There are parades across Northern Ireland, especially by the Orange Order and other loyalist organisations like the Royal Black Institution and the Apprentice Boys of Derry, and the routes of these parades, which consist of marching bands and flags prominently declaring the religious and political allegiance of the participants, has long been controversial: some have traditionally travelled through Catholic areas in a way seen as triumphalist and aggressive, and it was to resolve and defuse these disagreements that the government created the Parades Commission, a quasi-judicial non-departmental body, in 1998.
The evening before the celebrations, the Eleventh Night, is marked by the erection of huge bonfires in Protestant areas, recalling the beacons lit across Ulster to welcome William III when he landed at Carrickfergus in 1690. Constructed from wooden pallets and lumber, these bonfires can be huge, and they are frequently topped with provocatively sectarian icons like the Irish tricolour and effigies of Nationalist and Republican heroes. In recent years, the tallest bonfire has been at Craigyhill in Larne, County Antrim, which has exceeded 200 feet in height.
Over the years, parades on the Twelfth have sparked controversy not least because of the conflict between the marchers’ assertion of their right to follow traditional routes, which are on public highways, and the strong feelings of many residents of predominantly Catholic areas not to have to endure sectarian organisations in their localities, especially given assertively Protestant and Unionist banners and triumphalist music like “The Sash” and “Derry’s Walls”, as well as more explicitly violent compositions like “The Billy Boys”, which originated in Glasgow in the 1920s and makes reference to being “up to our knees in Fenian blood”.
The marching season, which begins as early as April but reaches its peak in July and culminates in the Twelfth, has been marred by regular outbreaks violence since the late 18th century, and this was particularly acute during the Troubles. In 1998, for example, Loyalist paramilitaries firebombed the house of a Catholic woman in Ballymoney, County Antrim, killing her three young sons.
The advent of the Belfast Agreement and the establishment of the Parades Commission in 1998 have led to a less tense atmosphere and levels of violence and disorder have dropped. The relative demilitarisation of Northern Ireland with the end of Operation Banner, the British Army’s 38-year active deployment in the province, and the replacement of the Royal Ulster Constabulary by the Police Service of Northern Ireland have accompanied a degree of normalisation. But the event still does not always pass off peacefully: in 2013, there was serious disorder in Belfast resulting in several police officers being injured; in 2018, vehicles were set on fire in Belfast and police attacked in Londonderry.
This is not the place to delve into the proximate and underlying causes of violence on the Twelfth or the political, economic and social factors at play in stoking tensions between the Unionist and Nationalist communities. They are deep-rooted, complex and long-standing, and they deserve much more detailed analysis. All of this introduction is intended to explain, however, that 12 July is a potential flashpoint for the forces of law and order in Northern Ireland, and that is a matter which draws in both the Northern Ireland Executive and the UK government.
Under the terms of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 (Devolution of Policing and Justice Functions) Order 2010, a range of policing and justice powers is devolved to the Department of Justice, currently run by Naomi Long as minister. However, PSNI is subject to the oversight of the Northern Ireland Policing Board, chaired by businessman Mukesh Sharma. The chief constable of PSNI is Jon Boutcher, who was previously chief constable of Bedfordshire Police and has extensive experience in national security and counter-terrorism, and as head of the police he has operational independence from politicians. Given the existence of a functioning executive, the role of the Northern Ireland Office, headed by Hilary Benn, is secondary. Its function is to:
make politics work by working alongside the Northern Ireland Executive to help improve the effectiveness and delivery of the devolved institutions; to ensure a more secure Northern Ireland; deliver a growing economy including rebalancing the economy; and ensure a stronger society by supporting initiatives designed to build better community relations and a genuinely shared future.
However, the NIO retains responsibility for national security and counter-terrorism, which in effect means that it is the backstop for law and order if any situation should escalate beyond the immediate control of PSNI. The secretary of state is also responsible for political stability in the broadest sense.
This is the first Twelfth at which an executive is in place since 2021, and in the last seven years, only two have coincided with the existence of a executive. It is also the first Twelfth which an executive led by a Sinn Féin first minister, Michelle O’Neill, has overseen; while the first minister and the deputy first minister, Emma Little-Pengelly of the DUP, have equal authority, the symbolism of a Republican first minister has been absorbed.
As I explained in yesterday’s essay on Sir Keir Starmer and his attitude towards the Union, the new government has been active on Northern Ireland, Starmer and Benn meeting representatives of the political parties at the weekend. The UK government will hope to remain uninvolved in the Twelfth this year, proving the success and durability of the devolution settlement.
The Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland has released details of 19 parades across the province on Friday. There has already been some controversy over the decision by Belfast City Council to remove a bonfire from the Annandale Embankment in south Belfast, and its builders set fire to it before it could be taken away. In Moygashel, in County Tyrone, a bonfire was topped with a replica of a Vauxhall Vectra police car, and was condemned as “disrespectful” and “truly pathetic” by Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie. Meanwhile Loyalist activist Jamie Bryson defended it as “edgy artistic expression” and a representation of “two-tier policing”. In case the sectarian element was not sharp enough, Bryson added:
I think this is… a bit like, for example, [hip-hop group] Kneecap. If that type of expression is welcome from the nationalist community, then I see no reason why similar unionist efforts would not draw similar applause unless of course there are double standards. I do find it more than mildly amusing that they’ve managed to place a full-sized police car on top of a bonfire, having first appropriated the wheels. I’d imagine their artistic message this year also seeks to emphasise a two-tier policing message.
These may remain isolated controversies. There has been a lot of change in Northern Ireland in the last 12 months, and it is only a week since the general election. Unionism is on the back foot, at least for the moment, and there remain deep and bitter divisions over the Irish Sea border and the Windsor Framework. It is to be be hoped that the Twelfth passes peacefully and in the celebratory spirit in which it can be meant. Hilary Benn, who turns 71 this autumn, must occasionally wonder what he has let himself in for, but let us all wish him, and the rest of Northern Ireland, a peaceful weekend.
In 1690, England, Scotland and Ireland still used the Julian calendar (“Old Style”); Pope Gregory XIII had promulgated the New Style Gregorian calendar in 1582, but it was not adopted in Britain and Ireland until September 1752, when the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750 came into force and the country moved forward by 12 days. The Battle of the Boyne took place on 1 July in the old calendar but is commemorated on its “new” date, 12 July.
Thank you for this. It’s good to read anything about NI, especially something that’s not sensationalist or biased. Having lived through the Troubles in the safety of middle England I confess to limited knowledge of the issues involved, the closest I came to it apart from news broadcasts was when a post box exploded on a corner of Piccadilly near where my partner was working or knowing a PhD student who lived in NI and had had very close contact with one sectarian killing. I have a natural disinclination to believe news reports, I’m always wary of who is writing them and why. However, I was lucky to win a book in a Twitter raffle that I did find illuminating in that it was written from ‘the other side’ so to speak: The Good Friday Agreement by Siobhán Fenton (Biteback Publishing, 2018), gives a very interesting perspective. I sincerely hope that the gradual wearing down of the Good Friday Agreement by Brexit issues and the passage of time can be repaired.
NI is always a fascinating topic, mainly because most Brits outside of there know so little about the place. I thought this was a measured, non-biased article. Hillary Benn is an admirable politician and a common sense sort of guy. Let's hope he endeavours in keeping the peace there whilst also listening to both sides.