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Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said that the colors on the Irish flag are white, orange and green in equal measure\u201d after a meeting with the Orange Order.<\/p>\nTaoiseach Leo Varadkar has said that the colors on the Irish flag are white, orange and green in equal measure\u201d after a meeting with the Orange Order.<\/p>\n
Mr Varadkar and Minister for European Affairs Helen McEntee met with the Grand Secretary of the Orange Order, Reverend Mervyn Gibson and a delegation of Orange Order members in Government Buildings today.<\/p>\n
During the meeting, they discussed issues affecting Orange Order members in Ireland, including Protestant schools and education in general, infrastructure and the cultural needs of Protestant communities in border counties.<\/p>\n
The government reports they also discussed support for tourism projects including further development of the Battle of the Boyne site, the possibility of a Williamite Trail from Antrim to Aughrim, and Second World War commemorations.<\/p>\n
Speaking after the meeting the Taoiseach said: \u201cThe colors on our flag are white, orange and green in equal measure.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes I feel that we haven\u2019t fully lived up to that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Good Friday Agreement acknowledges that people in Northern Ireland have the right to be British, Irish or both, and accepted as such.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should acknowledge that there are many people in our State that feel themselves to be both British and Irish.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something that we should accept too.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn many occasions, I have said that our job should be to build bridges, not borders.<\/p>\n
\u201cI strongly believe that States can best be judged on how they treat minorities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis visit today is another step in an ongoing engagement between the Government and the Order.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must always keep channels of communication open as a basis for respectful discussion on matters of common interest.<\/p>\n
\u201cI Iook forward to ongoing dialogue between the Government and the Orange Order.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Varadkar recently became the first serving Irish head of government to visit the Orange Heritage Museum in Belfast in June and went on to provide funding for the rebuilding of a fire damaged Orange Hall in Co Donegal after an arson attack this year.<\/p>\n
In recent months he has been keen to reiterate his understanding and sympathy for Northern Ireland unionists, using his speeches to reiterate that the Republic\u2019s government would respect the Good Friday Agreement.<\/p>\n
This afternoon’s meeting also touched on Brexit, the Withdrawal Agreement and the Political Declaration agreed at the European Council meeting in Brussels last weekend.<\/p>\n
The meeting comes as the political positions of the DUP and Mr Varadkar\u2019s office have been at odds in recent weeks as the Irish government backed Theresa May\u2019s draft agreement, which the DUP has flatly rejected.<\/p>\n
Arlene Foster strongly reiterated DUP rejection of the EU-UK Brexit withdrawal agreement at her party conference over the weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe choice is not between this deal and no deal despite what the government spin machine may say,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cannot wish away the fact that the draft withdrawal agreement contains arrangements that we believe are not in Northern Ireland\u2019s long term economic or strategic interests.\u201d<\/p>\n