Saulters: I didn't say I wanted to meet Sinn Fein
LAST week I did an interview with the News Letter which was given extensive coverage in the newspaper and also featured on its website
In fact, the full 12 minutes of the televised interview was uploaded on the web for everyone to see and I stand by what I said.
The headline in the newspaper did say 'Order May Meet With Sinn Fein' which was a bit of poetic licence but public figures realise that headlines are meant to attract readers and this one certainly achieved that.
The comments I made during the interview were accurately reported in the newspaper but there are still a small number of people who have misquoted what I actually said, in order to suit their own self-centred agenda.
I would have expected these same people to do me the courtesy of reading the full interview or watching it on the web, before they decided to comment on what they claimed I had said.
Perhaps it did not suit them to accurately reflect my comments.
Perhaps they wanted to inflict public disgrace on the Institution of which they claim to be loyal members.
If so, their warped strategy will have failed because I believe most people will have read the interview and understood what I said.
Lest there be any confusion, I want to make myself very clear to these rather pathetic, insecure and disloyal members of the Institution.
I did not say I wanted to meet Sinn Fein.
I have no intention of meeting Sinn Fein and I have already rejected several offers in the past from Gerry Adams for a meeting.
Sinn Fein's bed-fellows in the IRA murdered and maimed their way through the Troubles on a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Protestant community. The Orange Institution lost 275 members to their bloodlust and those people are in my thoughts every day.
My interview made it clear that it would be wrong to rule out a meeting sometime in the future. If we have learned anything from history in Northern Ireland, it is that the unexpected can happen.
However let me be absolutely clear.
I do not want to meet Sinn Fein, I am not planning to meet Sinn Fein and I have absolutely no respect for Sinn Fein.
If the Orange Order ever does meet these apologists for the IRA, it will be a long time in the future and a lot will have happened in the meantime.
I have been honoured to be the Grand Master of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland for the past 13 years and I have no intention of letting down the Institution that I love with every bone in my body.
The interview is still available in the archive section of the News Letter website and I would encourage those with open minds to view it.
The Orange Institution is a successful and world-wide organisation and it will continue to play a pivotal role in Protestant society.
Critics, including those from within, will find it has survived through very dark days and the comments of a few misguided and sad people will have little effect on this great organisation.
Robert Saulters,
Grand Master
Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland
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Weather for Belfast
Wednesday 15 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 5 C to 10 C
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Wind direction: North west
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Light rain
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