ON GAELIC GAMES:New Compensation Order proposals do not address the problems facing the GAA in Northern Ireland

IN THE early hours of Saturday morning, November 8th last, St Malachy’s GAA clubhouse in Edendork, Tyrone, was set on fire. According to the fire and rescue service, by the time fire fighters reached the scene the blaze had been in progress for so long the roof had collapsed on top of the first floor and the building completely destroyed.

Within 48 hours the premises of the Fr Rocks GAA club in Cookstown had also been set alight and suffered extensive damage.

Both of the attacks were seen as reprisals for similar incidents at Orange Halls in the previous couple of weeks. Less than two months earlier St John’s Drumnaquoile club in Down had also been badly damaged by fire.

In the circumstances it wasn’t surprising that Ulster Council secretary Danny Murphy had something to say on the subject at last weekend’s provincial convention. “There are two matters that I wish to raise in the context of these attacks. The association too condemn attacks of any kind on anyone’s property but we also do so as routine, without equivocation. We have suffered many such attacks on our community property and these also are used for the benefit of those communities. We need to restate that we are not a threat to anyone and we work positively for our association and the community that it serves.

“The second part of this approach is the discrimination being perpetrated by the amendment to the Compensation Order 2008. This legislation sets dual standards as to how malicious attacks are treated in law and renders one side of the community bereft of the type of cover afforded to the other. We have made substantial representations on the matter but the response of the Northern Ireland Office does not adequately deal with the consequences of attacks on community property coming from the association’s point of view.”

What Murphy complains of as dual standards is legislation in the pipeline to make it easier for certain organisations to claim compensation for damage to their property.

At present compensation is governed by the previous Compensation Order dating back to 1977. It establishes two tests for a compensation claim to qualify. Either the attack must be shown to have been carried out, “a) unlawfully, maliciously or wantonly by three or more persons unlawfully, riotously or tumultuously assembled together; or b) as a result of an act committed maliciously by a person acting on behalf of, or in connection with, an unlawful association, an act of terrorism”.

A certificate from the chief constable is required to back up such claims under the order and it is notoriously hard to get. Proving that three people as opposed to two soaked your premises with petrol and set it ablaze is difficult to accomplish in a smoking ruin.

Neither are the terms of clause b) easy to satisfy. For instance, St Malachy’s in Edendork were turned down for a chief constable’s certificate despite the fact the “Orange Volunteers”, believed to comprise former UVF militants, contacted the UTV newsroom in Belfast to claim responsibility.

That very difficulty in securing the chief constable’s certificate has been creating problems for everyone, including the Orange Order, many of whom have vulnerable premises in remote areas. The DUP, supported by the other Northern Ireland parties, proposed in Westminster such community halls be allowed satisfy the far less stringent requirements that attach to compensation claims for damage to agricultural property, ie that it was caused “maliciously or wantonly”. That was defeated.

But the issue was looked at by the British government and a proposal brought forward, which acknowledged the difficulties in complying with the 1977 order. That proposal reads in part: “The government is proposing to support local communities suffering from attacks on these community facilities, by introducing an amendment to the current criminal damage compensation scheme.

“The aim of the proposal is to create a targeted approach to compensation for community halls that are criminally damaged but which do not meet the criteria of the current compensation scheme. The intention is to create additional provisions that will compensate community halls for criminal damage above the statutory deduction level without the need to prove that the damage (a) was carried out by three or more persons or (b) as a result of a malicious act by a person acting on behalf of, or in connection with, an unlawful association.”

It might be assumed GAA clubs would be included under the new provisions but the line has been drawn at religious organisations from both sides of the divide. The full list is: Ancient Order of Hibernians, Apprentice Boys of Derry, Grand Lodge of Freemasons of Ireland, Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, Independent Loyal Orange Institution, Order of the Knights of St Columbanus, Royal Black Institution and the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes (yes, seriously). Sports clubs were excluded with obvious consequences for insurance premiums.

Yet the GAA have been throughout the Troubles a highly visible target for sectarian attack. Unionist politicians have not been slow to try to create equivalence between the association and the Orange Order for the purposes of bodies, such as the Parades Commission. There is little doubt such attitudes have helped sustain the environment in which GAA clubs have been targeted. In the aftermath of last autumn’s attacks the PSNI stated it had “increased patrols of vulnerable premises such as Orange halls and GAA clubs following recent incidents”. Yet having assisted in the process of identifying the GAA in this context, unionist parties seem reluctant to extend the same concessions to the association and on the Northern Ireland Assembly’s ad hoc committee, set up to consider the proposed compensation order, they were unwilling to subject the proposals to a “full equality impact assessment”.

That assessment is still possible but the Ulster Council remain pessimistic about any extension of the order, which is due to be formally enacted this year.

It is regrettable sectarian attacks are still a feature of life in Northern Ireland but the GAA in Ulster have been doing a great deal to reach out across the divide, at provincial council level and anecdotally on the ground such as during the summer when the local GAA club helped clean up the Newtownbutler Orange hall after it had been daubed with sectarian graffiti and Fermanagh colours the night before last July’s Ulster final.

Although there are now different, terrifying challenges facing the British and Irish governments, there is surely a case for representations to be made on this issue.

smoran@irishtimes.com