The Orange Order is in a vibrant condition, and with so many enthusiastic and dedicated officers and members it has the potential to expand still further.

The great parades this Twelfth, and the many mini and minor parades around the period provides evidence once again of the affection in which the Orange Order is held throughout Northern Ireland.

Up to half a million people packed the streets and demonstration fields in support of the Orange brethren, and their enthusiasm was clear for all to see.

Yet, in spite of all this, some commentators and contributions to radio programmes persist in their case the Orange Order is in serious decline.

One political writer in a national paper pontificated on the same theme, while a man claiming to be an Orangeman, phoned one of the BBC Radio Ulster programmes calling on all Orangemen to seek, as he put it, to attract new members and “halt the decline”.

These and other pundits refuse to move on in spite of the fact that the Orange Order a few years ago revealed its membership totals for Northern Ireland, ending once and for all the speculation over this issue.

Orange Order spokesmen have conceded that current membership is below that enjoyed by the organisation in the 1950s and 60s, but were able to provide valid explanations for the decline.
They pointed to the growing secularisation of Ulster society, with the drift away from mainstream churches.

But there are more obvious reasons for the decline in Orange membership, not lease the huge upheaval created by the 35 years of The Troubles.

This resulted in massive movement of parts of the Protestant population in many cities and towns, especially Belfast and Londonderry.

This demographic transformation, much of it caused by republican violence and intimidation, was not confined to the cities. Portadown, Lurgan, and other large towns were affected, and the most obvious example of the result of this movement of Protestants was manifested in Portadown’s Garvaghy Road.

The ethnic cleansing of the Protestant population resulted in the Garvaghy Road becoming controlled by militant republicans, leading to the confrontations over the traditional Orange church parade in July.

Many former Protestant districts in Belfast have become green by political affiliation due to the move out of districts like New Barnsley, Moyard, Grosvenor Road, Ormeau Road, Duncairn Gardens, the Oldpark, Cliftonville, and lower Ardoyne.

Tens of thousands of Protestants, many of them Orangemen, moved house to safer areas, especially the towns on the perimeter of Belfast.

All this had a detrimental effect on Orange numbers in those city areas affected. In fact, it is a tribute to the resilience of many Orange lodges that the fortunes of the Belfast Orange districts have been revived in recent decades.

Those who are quick to point the finger at Orange leaders, and to claim that the Order is in decline, need to take into account the traumatic period which Northern Ireland has endured for almost four decades.

It would be amazing if the Orange Order had remained unaffected by the terrorist campaign. Indeed, the Order has suffered greatly due to the terrorism, and the loss of 336 fine brethren, murdered by the IRA and other republican groups is the most obvious example.

That is the equivalent of losing 10-fair sized lodges, or one medium sized Orange district, and who can doubt that the Order is all the poorer for the loss of so many fine brethren, a large proportion of them serving with the police and army.

Statistics are not everything, and can be used in connection with any organisation to support diverse arguments.

There were great periods for the Orange Order, especially in the years after the Second World War when membership was very high.

But there have been low points before, notably in the years between the two World War, when thousands of Orangemen moved with their families to Canada, because of severe economic conditions in Northern Ireland.

Those who continue to complain about the Order or falsely claim that it is in decline, should look at the positives – the huge parades, the many excellent Orange halls which play an increasing role in the wider society, and the wide range of programmes and events organised at every level of the Order.

It is hardly surprising that the traditional enemies of the Orange Order will seek to denigrate it. It is much more difficult to understand the motives for those who purport to support the Orange Order and yet seek to undermine it by concentrating on negative issues.