Freemasons -- RTÉ's Morning Edition

first to our doors open series where we get a glimpse into Worlds that we don't normally see this week our reporter ashing Ren went along to meet some Freemasons at the Grand Lodge in Dublin's City Center now I'm outside the Grand Lodge of Freemasons on molth Street in Dublin City Center and like many people I've passed this building time and time again and I've always wondered what it looks like from the Insight today is my lucky day where i'm want to do just [Music] that hi yeah how are you you must be Ashley I am

my name is Morgan mccre I'm the assistant of the grand secretary I've been expecting you want to come in yes thank you everybody get up impressive from the outside spectacular on the inside this Grand Lodge of Freemasons building has been here since 1866 and despite some people thinking it's a closed shop the public are free to go in to have a look around however to become a Freemason is a little different to apply you must be male be over 21 believe in the existence of a Supreme Being and as the organization does not recruit you

have to ask to be one I describe it in the words of one Dublin lady who found out all the things that we didn't do as harmless is how i' describe it especially Irish Freemasonry which has um succeeded in avoiding involvement in politics and religious controversy here in this country for years which is quite an achievement we're a north south organization with about 25,000 members men aren't very good at mixing unless they have something in common um that's a well-known fact they have to have a football club or a car club or model Railways or

something like that whereas women seem to be able to get on on very well without these things we are a fraternity in every village and town in Ireland if you look closely a bit like termite you'll find Freemasons I put it to you this way uh we don't eat our young and we're not devil worshippers your average Free Mason is uh ordinary down to earth chop so what exactly happens in the lodge well this here is the headquarters of the order basically it's a local government for free masonry we issue the warrants are char that

um permit The Lodges to operate and um we basically would um wouldn't interfere in the autonomous bodies which are Masonic lodges now in a lodge itself sometimes very little happens they're very good at talking about nothing they'd have an agenda which is fairly basic minutes correspondents treasurer's report secretary's report and then they may or may not have a masonic ceremony in other words an initiation or a masonic degree bringing a brother to another level see Luke is 26 years old and has been a Mason for the past four years I had friends in the order

and um they were always doing charity events and that kind of thing and I just wanted to get involved and bit of curiosity as well it's a mad place as you can see you know so I just wanted to kind of know what was going on but I suppose um reasons change you know like anything that people join and um I just kind of got to know the lads here and just just really sound people in it you know I would never hide the fact that I'm Aon but I wouldn't bring it up um in

general conversation with people I don't know unless it came up on conversation and there is people people generally like Morgan was saying there in Ireland like people are generally open enough like but there are people that uh have have have a stigma um and have different ideas of what we are you just have to look at the Internet to read about it and yeah you get um some pretty mad stuff and for women watching who might be interested there are some from unaffiliated bodies that recognize female Freemasons in Ireland that was ashing Wen reporting there