3 December 1998 Edition
Equality - Sinn Fein opens up Stormont
By Ned Kelly
Stormont, the bastion of exclusion and Unionist domination for over fifty years was opened up to the equality debate by Sinn Fein's Equality spokesperson John Kelly at an Equality Conference on Monday.
Kelly outlined the thinking behind the conference: ``Stormont was the seat of unionist power, the architects and practitioners of political, economic and cultural discrimination. It is appropriate that a conference to share peoples' experience of inequality, to open the dialogue between diverse groups and start building alliances is held in Stormont.''
Haroon Saad, Birmingham City Council Head of Equality and Unison's Inez McCormack along with John Kelly brought together traditional republican equality constituents and representatives from other key equality constituencies - young people, women's rights, gays and lesbians, ethnic minorities, Irish language speakers, political prisoners, the unemployed and community groups.
Ahead of the conference John Kelly said, ``if you are a woman, working class or a Catholic you do not have equality. Once you factor in other people experiencing inequality - minority ethnic groups, disabled people, the young, the old, gays and lesbians and so on - you realise that the vast majority of us want and need equality.''
Haroon Saad urged people to identify the structures, processes and strategy needed to advance the Equality Agenda, to build coalitions. He said communities that have experienced inequality and disadvantage, have an expertise which is indispensable to the successful implementation of the equality agenda.
Kelly, Sinn Fein's mid-Ulster assembly member, described the event as ``an important step in building a coalition to deliver the equality agenda''.
Speakers also expressed concern at the attempts to ``shuffle'' the responsibility for equality into the lap of David Trimble's central office under the remit of finance and personnel.
Kelly explained, ``the suggestion that the `community relations' model is a basis for eradicating inequality is unworkable. Civil servants who have perpetuated inequality, discrimination and marginalisation must not be given authority for the equality agenda.''
Kelly also warned against paper commitments to equality and highlighted the shifting stance of ``Unionists'' such as John Taylor who said, ``of course, there must be equality of opportunity for everyone, but not equality. You can not expect the Irish minority to be equal to the majority''.
Kelly emphasised five key points around which equality could be measure these included the need for a Department of Equality and an equality agenda developed on an all-island basis.
The Sinn Fein Equality spokesperson concluded, ``equality is a right for all people - north and south, Catholic and Protestant, men and women, black and white - it must be recognising this truth is the first step towards `cherishing all the children of the nation equally'.''
Stormont, the bastion of exclusion and Unionist domination for over fifty years was opened up to the equality debate by Sinn Fein's Equality spokesperson John Kelly at an Equality Conference on Monday.
Kelly outlined the thinking behind the conference: ``Stormont was the seat of unionist power, the architects and practitioners of political, economic and cultural discrimination. It is appropriate that a conference to share peoples' experience of inequality, to open the dialogue between diverse groups and start building alliances is held in Stormont.''
Haroon Saad, Birmingham City Council Head of Equality and Unison's Inez McCormack along with John Kelly brought together traditional republican equality constituents and representatives from other key equality constituencies - young people, women's rights, gays and lesbians, ethnic minorities, Irish language speakers, political prisoners, the unemployed and community groups.
Ahead of the conference John Kelly said, ``if you are a woman, working class or a Catholic you do not have equality. Once you factor in other people experiencing inequality - minority ethnic groups, disabled people, the young, the old, gays and lesbians and so on - you realise that the vast majority of us want and need equality.''
Haroon Saad urged people to identify the structures, processes and strategy needed to advance the Equality Agenda, to build coalitions. He said communities that have experienced inequality and disadvantage, have an expertise which is indispensable to the successful implementation of the equality agenda.
Kelly, Sinn Fein's mid-Ulster assembly member, described the event as ``an important step in building a coalition to deliver the equality agenda''.
Speakers also expressed concern at the attempts to ``shuffle'' the responsibility for equality into the lap of David Trimble's central office under the remit of finance and personnel.
Kelly explained, ``the suggestion that the `community relations' model is a basis for eradicating inequality is unworkable. Civil servants who have perpetuated inequality, discrimination and marginalisation must not be given authority for the equality agenda.''
Kelly also warned against paper commitments to equality and highlighted the shifting stance of ``Unionists'' such as John Taylor who said, ``of course, there must be equality of opportunity for everyone, but not equality. You can not expect the Irish minority to be equal to the majority''.
Kelly emphasised five key points around which equality could be measure these included the need for a Department of Equality and an equality agenda developed on an all-island basis.
The Sinn Fein Equality spokesperson concluded, ``equality is a right for all people - north and south, Catholic and Protestant, men and women, black and white - it must be recognising this truth is the first step towards `cherishing all the children of the nation equally'.''