Unusual for Arlene to sit on the fence...
Arlene Foster joined a sun-splashed crowd watching the Republic’s only annual Orange parade yesterday.
The DUP leader was with family members and friends and accompanied discreetly by Garda Special Branch officers in the 10,000 crowd, as 50 bands from across the North and the border area paraded at Rossnowlagh, Co Donegal. Her day away from the North’s power-sharing negotiations with Sinn Fein and from her party propping up the British government was in a border village she knows well.
Rossnowlagh, where the Orange Order parades every year, is a 40minute drive from her Co Fermanagh home.
Mrs Foster was in time to hear some of A section of the parade her own views on the stalled talks with Sinn Fein reflected in the main speech.
Stuart Brooker, Assistant Grand Master of the Orange Lodge of Ireland, spoke of reaching out to the wider community and particularly nationalists.
He said: “We have done so in a spirit of openness and goodwill.
“It’s a pity we don’t see that same tolerance and respect reciprocated by others. It is something we cannot understand.”
Among marchers were Orangemen from Convoy, Co Donegal, where a foundation stone was laid last week for a new hall to replace one burned down three years ago.
Gardai reported a peaceful afternoon with no arrests.
Arlene Foster watches the parade pass by in Rossnowlagh, Co Donegal, yesterday