Independent Orange Order

The Independent Loyal Orange Institution is an offshoot of the Orange Institution, a Protestant fraternal organisation based in Northern Ireland.

It was formed in Ireland in 1903 by Tom Sloan and others associated with the Belfast Protestant Association, who had been expelled from the Orange Order when they voiced opposition to it being used for party political ends by Ulster Unionists. Originally it was associated with the labour movement, but it soon realigned itself with traditional unionist politics.

Like the Orange Order it is a Protestant fraternal organisation dedicated to the principles of the Protestant Reformation. It takes its name in memory of King William of Orange of the house of Orange who fought at the Battle of the Boyne, brought about the Glorious Revolution and the Bill of Rights giving the Westminster parliament ultimate power of the country rather than the Monarch. The Independent Order is small compared to the main organisation with about 1,500–2,000 members. It is largely based around north County Antrim in Northern Ireland but has lodges around the world, including England, Scotland and Australia. Its annual main Twelfth of July demonstration is held in a north Antrim town or village.

Along with the Orange Order and the Royal Black Institution, the Independent Orange Order in 2006 held talks with the Social Democratic and Labour Party, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the Ulster Unionist Party, Alliance, the Chief Constable of the PSNI, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches, the Church of Ireland and the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission to try to resolve issues around contested loyalist parades. The Independent Orange Order was represented by Free Presbyterian minister David McConaghie, then a prominent figure in both the DUP and the Caleb Foundation, an evangelical pressure group. There was no meeting with Sinn Féin; McConaghie called on the IRA to apologise for the "slaughter" of 310 Orangemen who had been killed during the Troubles.

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