No incident in Northern Ireland over the past 27 years had provoked more reaction from the Church of Ireland community in the South than the Drumcree stand off, the Church of Ireland Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, Dr Roy Warke, said yesterday.
Speaking at the Annual Synod of the United Dioceses of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, Dr Warke said there was a per identification of the Church of Ireland with the Orange Order, which had led to calls for church leaders to address the issue.
"But I would draw your attention to what was said by the Primate and other members of the General Synod this year. They left those present in no doubt as to their abhorrence of, what was being said and done by certain members of the order.
"Indeed the Primate was slammed - to use the popular, journalistic term - by a leading member of the DUP for, and I quote, using the General Synod to launch the Northern Ireland Office's propaganda against the Orange Order," he said.