Irish politics are cut off...

Interesting observation from Eric Waugh:

"The disabling sickness of Irish politics is that it inhabits a sea largely dead. The political climate on the island is benign enough by international standards. But it is denied the purifying influence of the tides and is shut off by the burden of history from the freshening winds of change which blow outside".

He argues that the Orange Order's tardiness in meeting the demands for change may lie in its very Irish trait of distrusting compromise.