Since its formation, the Orange Order has barred brethren from attending any Catholic service, including weddings and funerals.

According to the Grand Lodge of Ireland, as part of the qualifications of being an Orangeman, members "should strenuously oppose the fatal errors and doctrines of the Church of Rome, and scrupulously avoid countenancing (by his presence or otherwise) any act of ceremony of Popish worship."

However, a correspondent writing in the newsletter of a southern lodge has called for such Roman Catholic references to be removed and for the "anachronistic" qualifications to be revised.

The publication, linked to Dublin and Wicklow Orange Order LOL 1313, refers to the radical changes that have taken place in the Republic, namely the separation between the Catholic Church and the Irish state.

"The special place of the Roman Catholic Church in the constitution has gone," the article says.

"Is it not time to remove from the 'Qualification of an Orangeman' those references to our Roman Catholic fellow subjects of both Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic?

"References which they find offensive and many of us anachronistic.

"What better way to change without compromise than to return to the original qualifications?

"In doing so we would be displaying to the world that we still hold dear our Protestant principles. More than that we would be practising the instructions of scripture, on which our order is founded."

Any rule changes within the order would have to be approved, following a motion, by the ruling Grand Lodge.