The Ulster Museum controversy (4)

Yesterday the Sunday World reported that it had copies of the minutes of a meeting that I held with the chairman and some of the trustees of the National Museums of Northern Ireland on 28 April 2010. 

Not only has someone leaked the letter that I sent to the chairman but they have also leaked minutes of a meeting with a number of trustees.  This confirms my point that the malign individual who leaked the letter and now the minutes has no respect for the museum or the trustees.

Of course the Sunday World started its article by claiming that 'The Minister wants the museum bedecked with Orange flags,' but then the Sunday World has been known to engage from time to time in sensationalism and exaggeration!  The word 'bedeck' means to 'decorate lavishly' and the inclusion of an Orange banner would not, by any stretch of the imagination, fit the description of 'decorate lavishly'.  At present there is a trade union banner on the wall and no one would suggest that the museum is 'bedecked' with trade union banners.

During the course of that meeting on 28 April I simply suggested that some artefacts associated with the Orange Order might be displayed in the Ulster Museum.  After all, what s a museum without artefacts?  There is already a trade union banner up on the wall of the museum and there is no reason why the museum could not add banners to represent some of the fraternal organisations, including the Orange Order.

 

 

The Ulster Museum controversy (3)

Eamonn Mallie's comments on the museum controversy

Even if one disagrees with Creationism v Science what would be wrong with juxtaposing the two illustratively in Museum? End absolutism.

3:17 AM May 26th via UberTwitter

We must all learn to be a broad church in NI. I would like to know and be exposed to manifestations of Ulster Scots even in Museum.

3:14 AM May 26th via UberTwitter

Can you imagine if the Ulster Museum mounted a century of GAA history the hundreds of thousands of people that would suck into the Museum?

3:10 AM May 26th via UberTwitter

World has moved on. Member of Orange Order gives talk in my Alma Mater Abbey CBS Newry. Why not? We need to understand each other.

3:09 AM May 26th via UberTwitter

Some kneejerking to N/Mc Causland's untimely intervention in Museum affairs just as Museum is in running for top award. Debate worth having.

3:06 AM May 26th via UberTwitter

I welcome these thoughtful comments from Eamonn Mallie and there is a debate that is worth having.  We need to understand each other better if we are to build a 'shared future' and that was the basis of my letter. 

He refers to members of the Orange Order speaking in the Abbey Christian Brothers School in Newry and some years ago, when I was convenor of the Orange Order's education committee, I visited the school to speak to the students and answer their questions.

The Ulster Museum controversy (2)

Alf McCreary has commented on the issue in tonight's Belfast Telegraph.

Nelson's right to make 'art luvvies' live in real world

It is amusing to watch the 'art luvvies' in hysteria because our esteemed Culture Minister Nelson McCausland suggested that our museums should reflect more of our local culture.

I am not one of those who embrace Creationism, nor am I a member of the Orange Order or a Hibernian, but these are all part of our culture.

There is already a wonderful William Conor painting of The Twelfth in the Ulster Museum.

Nelson McCausland, or any minister, certainly cannot and must not dictate what should go into our museums, but he has a right to make suggestions.

Sometimes the 'art luvvies' need their cages rattled to remind them of real life.

The Ulster Museum controversy (1)

I indicated recently that I would post some general observations on  the issues I had raised in my letter to the trustees of the Ulster Museum and this is the first of them.

Back in 1988 the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum had a magnificent exhibition entitled Brotherhoods in Ireland.  It told the story of the many fraternal organisations that have been such a feature of life in Ulster for hundreds of years.

They included monastic and medieval organisations such as the Knights Templar, the Knights of St John and merchant, craft and religious guilds.  There were also the 'charitable and convivial brotherhoods' such as the Freemasons and the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes.

Friendly Societies were a significant feature of life in the 18th and 19th centuries as a 'poor man's life assurance'.  These included the Loyal Order of Ancient Shepherds, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Ancient Order of Foresters, the Irish National Foresters, and the British Order of Ancient Free Gardeners.  In the long run, however, National Insurance and competition from insurance companies led to their decline and today only the Irish National Foresters survive as an organisation.  There were also temperance brotherhoods such as the Independent Order of Rechabites and the International Order of Good Templars.

Finally we have the Orange Order, the Royal Arch Purple Chapter, the Royal Black Institution, the Independent Orange Order and the Knights of Malta, as well as the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Knights of St Columbanus.

The 1988 exhibition was comprehensive and informative and showed that many of these organisations had much  in common, with their lodges, passwords, degrees, regalia, banners and processions.  This was a high quality exhibition that was truly a credit to the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum.  It showed what can be done.

Of course this was a special exhibition but even a general exhibition on the history of Ulster must take account of and give adequate, appropriate and proportionate representation to the main fraternal organisations, especially the Orange Order and the Ancient Order of Hibernians, both of which have played a signficant role in the political history of Ulster.  The Orange Order has always been associated with Unionism and the AOH was for many years the power base of Joe Devlin and the Nationalists.  Devlin was president of the AOH from 1905 until his death in 1934.  We cannot understand the history of Unionism without acknowledging the role of the Orange Order and we cannot understand the history of Nationalism without appreciating the role of the AOH.

Moreover, do these organisations not lend themselves very naturally to incorporation and representation in a museum?  It is the artefacts in a museum that make it special for the visitor.  The interpretation is important but without artefacts there is no museum and both the Orange Order and other fraternal organisations have plenty of artefacts, with their regalia, banners, symbols and warrants etc.

I have seen such artefacts in museums in Scotland, England and the Irish Republic and is it unreasonable to expect similar representation here in Northern Ireland, the place where both the Orange Order and the AOH were founded?

As we seek to build a shared and better future in Northern Ireland we need to increase our understanding of each other and of our cultures, our histories and our traditions.  Our museums and other cultural institutions  have an important role to play in that process of mutual understanding and we must do all we can to encourage them in that role.

Antrim Coast Road

The current issue of the DRD magazine On The Move reports the unique challenges surrounding the Antrim Coast Road, which was originally constructed in 1842 by the 'men of the Glynnes'. 

It did not require any major improvement works until 1967, some 125 years later.  At that time a new section of road was constructed further out to sea to remove any danger from the eroding rock face south of Glenarm.  This stretch of road forms a physical barrier to the sea erosion on one side and the cliff and land erosion on the other.

National Museums and a 'shared future'

Today was one of the busiest for some time.  I started off by travelling down to the NSMC offices in Armagh for an NSMC meeting in relation to Waterways Ireland and then a second meeting in relation to the cross-border language body.

Nelson McCausland MLA & Pat Carey TD

At a time when the tourist industry is under pressure, partly as a result of the economic climate, it was encouraging to hear about the growth in the number of hire boats and private boats on our waterways, both in Northern Ireland and in the Irish Republic.

Much of the day was then taken up with interviews about my letter to the chair of the trustees at National Museums Northern Ireland.  The letter was sent to the trustees about two weeks ago and it identified the promotion of a 'shared future' as a priority.  That future must involve a recognition of diversity and respect for diversity.  I believe very strongly that all public bodies must take account of such matters as good relations, equality and human rights and that it is my responsibility as minister to remind arms-length bodies of these things.

That was the context for my letter which asked the trustees to consider the representation of the Orange Order and othen fraternal organisations.  In a meeting with some of the trustees last month I had highlighted the omission of any recongition of other fraternal organisations such as the Ancient Order of Hibernians.

I also referred to the omission of any mention of the Ulster-Scots, including the Hamilton and Montgomery settlement of 1606, when Sir James Hamilton and Sir Hugh Montgomery, the 'founding fathers' of the Ulster-Scots, arrived in Ulster from Ayrshire.

The third issue was the consideration of alternative views on the origin of the universe and the origin of life.

The leaking of the letter was disappointing and showed a lack of respect for the trustees and the museum.  Moreover it was interesting that the leak came just a few days after a meeting between representatives of the Orange Order and a senior member of the museum staff.  I intend to coment on each of these issues in more detail over the coming days.

This evening I attended the annual school play by the children of Malvern Primary School in the Lower Shankill area.  The children performed really well and the play was Cinderella Rockerfella, which is a modern panto-style reworking of the classic story of Cinderella.

'Devolved administrations'

In the wake of the recent announcement from Westminster about budgetary cuts, there was a meeting in Belfast of the first ministers of the administrations in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.  This was reported accurately on BBC but on the UTV news it was described as a meeting of the 'Celtic countries'.

I referred to the use of this term on a recent post and it is an inaccurate term.  Northern Ireland is not a 'Celtic country', either lingustically or ethnically.  There are some people who speak Gaelic but it is a minority language and so we are not a Celtic country in a linguistic sense.  Neither are we a Celtic country in an ethnic sense as many peoples have arrived and settled in Ulster down through the years - Pre-Celts, Cruithin, Celts, Vikings, Anglo-Normans, English, Scots and Welsh.  My mother's family were originally of Dutch origin, although she was born in Scotland.

The use of the term 'Celtic countries' is therefore erroneous.