Business booming for sales of loyal orders regalia after a tense marching season.
Following the Drumcree stand-off and a tension filled summer marching season in Northern Ireland, the Orange Order and other Loyalist institutions have seen a surge in membership from those wishing to defend the Protestant culture and its traditions.
In a traditionally quiet time of year, the specialist companies manufacturing and selling Orange Order sashes and other Protestant regalia have found business is booming.
Victor Stewart Enterprises a firm in Lurgan, County Armagh which supplies sashes for the Orange Order has noticed trade is up by 25%. Owner Victor Stewart sees this as a direct result of the events that took place over the summer in Drumcree in Portadown, and elsewhere in Northern Ireland.
We are taking orders from the all of the six counties and beyond.
For those supporting the Loyal Orders of Orangeism, the model of the church at the centre of the Drumcree siege is a huge seller. It is possibly not so popular amongst those who are from a Nationalist or Catholic background. Elaine Lawson who works at Victor Stewart Enterprises says,
We don’t just get loyalist and Orange people through our doors, we get all denominations through our doors.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 17 September 1996. The reporter is Brendan Wright.
