13 March 1997 Edition

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Pressure increases on Denton

By Mick Naughton

The sectarian controversy surrounding British Minister Baroness Jane Denton, who is in charge of fair employment policy in the Six Counties, shows that despite 23 years of Fair Employment legislation the British government lacks the will to tackle sectarianism in the workplace.

Denton, under increasing pressure to resign, has refused to answer reporters' questions to explain her actions in transferring a Catholic victim of sectarian abuse - rather than the perpetrator - out of her private office. This week the British government, trying to douse the flames of nationalist anger and deflect US criticism, deployed former top civil servant Maurice Hayes, himself a Catholic, to investigate the affair.

Denton was expected to travel to the US this week for a St Patrick's Day reception at the White House but pulled out because of the controversy and Michael Ancram is to attend in her place. Denton also pulled out of a visit to West Belfast last Friday when it was thought her presence would have led to further embarrassment for the NIO minister.

Referring to his investigation, Hayes said, ``It should not be a threatening operation because it is not a disciplinary procedure''. A Northern Ireland Office official declared that ``due to security considerations'' Hayes's results would not be made public.

The Denton affair initially centred on Catholic civil servant Gráinne Hedley who took a fair employment case against Alvina Saunders, the most senior member of Denton's staff, who made abusive sectarian remarks during the first Drumcree crisis in 1995.

Denton, against fair employment rules, subsequently had Hedley transferred out of her private office while Saunders's career went unscathed and she remains in post.

It emerged this week that Denton also breached fair employment guidelines when choosing her travelling secretary. She ignored a short list of applicants and handpicked someone she preferred.

Meanwhile, Sinn Fein's national chairperson Mitchel McLaughlin this week put the ball firmly in the British Government's court. Prior to leaving for a major briefing with the Ad Hoc Committee on Irish Affairs in Washington on Thursday 13 March, McLaughlin said, ``they cannot blame the worst excesses of the sectarian Stormont regime. After 25 years of Direct Rule under successive British governments nothing has changed''.

McLaughlin assured nationalists that he will raise the demand for equality of treatment for nationalists and the failure of the British government to tackle structured discrimination when he briefs US politicians.

And in Washington this week the powerful House International Relations Committee (HIRC), which decides on funding for the International Fund For Ireland (IFI), will hear further evidence from equal opportunities campaigners.

The powerful congressional committee will take evidence from MacBride Principles activist Father Sean McManus regarding the absolute failure of 23 years of British `fair' employment legislation.

Funding for the IFI was radically changed in May 1995 by the HIRC when it became contingent on the IFI to implement principles similar to those contained in MacBride. This decision was opposed unsuccessfully by the British government through its US Embassy representatives.

``Its like putting the fox into the coop to look after the chickens,'' was how Washington-based Sinn Féin representative Mairead Keane described the Denton scandal this week.

 

McLaughlin calls for Denton's resignation


Sinn Fein Party Chairperson and Foyle Westminster candidate Mitchel McLaughlin, called on Fair Employment Minister Baroness Denton to resign following further revelations of employment malpractice in her office.

``Every day she remains is a day in which US investment and aid and in particular the IFI allocation is put in jeopardy,'' said McLaughlin, who was speaking at a Sinn Fein press conference in Belfast on Monday 10 March before travelling to the US on a joint economic and political mission.

McLaughlin pointed out that this month sees the twenty-fifth anniversary of the introduction of Direct Rule, yet there had been no significant improvement of structural disadvantages against Catholics, and that it was an issue the British government had never seriously addressed.

``The British government are responsible for the ongoing discrimination,'' he insisted. ``The disgraceful behaviour of Baroness Denton not only highlights the dismal failure of existing fair employment legislation but sends out the message to employers that they too can discriminate against nationalists with impunity. I will argue this week at a Congress hearing into the IFI that the allocation should go ahead but with new safeguards to ensure it is allocated fairly. Baroness Denton should put jobs and investment before her last few weeks in office by resigning. This must become an issue.''

Bernadette O'Hagan also struck out at David Trimble's declaration that the Orange Order will march down the Garvaghy Road, which means that attempts at mediation have been undermined. She said his behaviour in 1995 is proof there has been no progress for nationalists in the north in twenty-five years.


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