Republican News · Thursday 13 March 2003

Measuring Equality under the Good Friday Agreement

Sinn Féin conference

BY LAURA FRIEL

The Long Gallery at the parliamentary buildings in Stormont was packed with representatives of a wide range of groups from the voluntary, community and public sectors. The Romanesque faÁade, which greets all visitors to Stormont, the Italian marble tiles beneath our feet and the elaborately carved ceilings overhead, all spoke of the privilege, wealth and power of a few, but we were here to represent the marginalised, deprived and dispossessed many. As delegates swiftly made their way up the sweeping lobby staircases, they were far from peasants storming the Winter Palace but somehow the thought did not seem wholly inappropriate.

In the conference room, Sinn Féin's backdrop put faces to the many groups of people facing discrimination in a wide range of arenas throughout their lives. The banner headline, 'Measuring Equality under the Good Friday Agreement', left no one in any doubt as to why we were all there and the question to be addressed by the panel of key speakers. Joan Harbinson, the chief commissioner of the Equality Commission, established to deliver the Good Friday Agreement's commitments to equality in the North, was among those invited to address the meeting.

Kate Hayes, the chair of the newly established Equality Authority, the South's counterpart to the Commission, was also among the speakers, as was fellow Dubliner Joanna McMinn, director of the National Women's Council of Ireland. The NWCI is a non-governmental body tasked with advising the Dublin government on women's issues.

Tim Cunningham spoke on behalf of the Equality Coalition, a group jointly convened by the Six-County based Committee for the Administration of Justice and the public sector union UNISON. Speaking for Sinn Féin was former Health Minister Bairbre de Brún, the party's spokesperson on Human Rights, who shares the equality brief with fellow Sinn Féin Assembly member Dr Dara O'Hagan. Des Brown, the NIO Minister with responsibility for equality, had declined an invitation to speak or attend the conference.

Equality central to the Agreement

Sinn Féin had called the conference to facilitate debate and engagement with all the equality constituencies. "We see this conference as part of a process of engagement between and within the equality consistuencies, offering an opportunity to build strategic alliances between all of us who want to see the strongest possible equality provisions enacted," Dara O'Hagan told delegates in the opening proceedings.

As a party of change, Sinn Féin had become concerned about the lack of movement on the equality commitment, evidence of some rolling back and "the fact that this rolling back is being pursued by some of the very people supposed to be responsible for delivering equality".

"We want to look at the progress of equality under the Good Friday Agreement by evaluating how it is currently measured, the mechanisms in place to deal with the equality commitment and the means of monitoring the effectiveness of those processes," she said. Dara suggested the consultation processes appeared to have been used to "put the equality agenda on the long finger".

"Given the history of the state in the north of Ireland, an area of political contention is and will remain, political and religious discrimination and inequality. It is an area with which Sinn Féin is particularly associated but Sinn Féin is just as concerned about inequality and discrimination in other areas," said Dara.

"As a political party that represents a community that has suffered widespread, structured and systematic discrimination, we have an innate affinity with people who suffer inequality and injustice for whatever reason. And that's why we as a party in the talks leading up to the Good Friday Agreement argued strongly for the inclusion of all the categories.

"Equality is central to the Good Friday Agreement, but there is still resistance within unionism and the British government to completion on issues of equality.

"One thing is certain; people will not be given equality. We will have to take it. We'll have to demand it, this much hasn't changed."

Equality the key to democracy

The conference is an important event at crucial time, Kate Hayes told the audience. "We are facing tremendous challenges set out by the Good Friday Agreement. There can be no doubt that the agreement has brought great momentum to the equality agenda on this island, and we in the Equality Authority continue to develop our work very much within this momentum."

The Equality Authority is an independent body set up by the employment equality act of 1998. Its main functions are working towards the elimination of issues of discrimination in employment, provision of goods and services, education and accommodation but also the proactive promotion of equality of opportunity and the provision of information and legal support for those experiencing discrimination.

"Our equality legislation is quite unique because it brings together the issues that link direct and indirect discrimination and victimisation in employment and in the provision of goods and services with nine brands, namely gender, marital status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, race and membership of the travelling community," said Kate

"This reflects a comprehensive approach to equality, an approach we have been very keen to develop. We have further recommended the inclusion of four new groups, criminal conviction, social and economic status, trade union membership and political opinion. And we have asked that these four be included for protection within the amended legislation. This recommendation is in part influenced by equivalence to the bill of rights in the Good Friday Agreement.

"The Authority is strongly committed to developing cooperation on a north-south, east-west basis. Partnership is the key to developing momentum around the equality agenda on this island. Equality is key to democracy. Political developments like the Good Friday Agreement and National Development Plan and the social partnership of people have underpinned this early work.

"There is already evidence of expectations realised and great hopes raised. With 15 years experience working with equality at a national level, I have never seen a time when so much has been achieved and so many actively pursuing the same goals. Your conference today is an important stepping stone in this dialogue across society, identifying the need for change and actively pursuing that great goal of equality."

Sinn Féin's commitment to equality

"Measuring Equality is a very important area for all of us and we in the Equality Commission have a special role in that and we have had some success but there is still a great deal of work that still remains," said Joan Harbinson. Commenting on the Commission's developing relationship with the Equality Authority, Joan said:

"When we first met we talked at each other, at the second meeting we devised a joint programme of work and by the third meeting there was such enthusiasm for a joint programme of work that I think we need at least our budgets doubled, if not trebled, to carry it out." Joan also acknowledged the work of the Equality Coalition.

"The Equality Commission has a huge remit, a very similar remit to that of the Equality Authority in the South. Sinn Féin's commitment to equality for all is extremely important to us in the Commission. We are committed to drive the equality agenda hard, regardless of the area, disability, political opinion, gender, whatever.

"The Single Equality Bill and Section 75 of the Good Friday Agreement offer a huge challenge to the Equality Commission. We now have 150 schemes approved that set out what those public bodies are going to do in the interests of equality and when and how they are actually going to be impact assessed. This is a great step in the right direction but this will always be a rolling programme."

Fair employment is "in many ways the bread and butter issue of the Equality Commission", she said. "But it doesn't get the profile it deserves, except when the Labour Monitoring Report comes out. The Commission has initiated affirmative action agreements with over 300 employers, with whom we work very hard to ensure equality of opportunity and fair treatment once people are employed.

"Monitoring returns is very important and allows us to demonstrate that there has been change in the involvement of Catholic population in employment over the last number of years. But we are also aware that there are difficulties when we look at employment rates. These are still significantly higher in relation to the Protestant community. And there is no evidence to suggest census data will show anything different."

A damning indictment

"In terms of how far we have to go and the current state of play, I think perhaps the best place to start is with the census figures, because they provide a very damning indictment of the progress that has been made to date in relation to implementing equality," said Tim Cunningham of the Equality Coalition.

"A cursory look at the figures reveals some serious problems. Take the issue of unemployment, in relation to Northern Ireland as a whole the percentage of unemployed people who have never had a job is 12% of the unemployed. If you go to Strabane it is 18%, so 1 in 5 of those unemployed in Strabane have never had a job," said Tim.

"If you go to Belfast and look at individual ward levels, you can see that almost a third of those unemployed in Whiterock, upper Springfield, Falls and New Lodge have never had a job. If we look at long term unemployment, those who have been unemployed since 1999 or earlier, the highest figures are in the Shankill. Half of those unemployed in the Shankill are long term unemployed. Urban regeneration would do more for community relations between the Shankill and the Falls than giving a few pounds here and there to a few community groups.

"From figures recently released by the Equality Coalition in relation to monitoring of employment, you can see a Catholic increase in participation in the workforce that happened in the 1990s has levelled off and in the last number of years there hasn't been any increase.

"Another important trend is the move towards an increasing Catholic and female public sector and Protestant and male private sector. The figures show Catholics don't have a monopoly on discrimination but they are disproportionably affected," said Tim.

Tim pointed out that between 2000 and 2001, £34 million came out of the pockets of the poor in repaying loans from the Social Fund. "We are supposed to live within a context of Targeting Social Need and promoting equality. To me there is no more obvious example of something that can be seen as opposite to TSN."

The Senior Civil Service Review had produced a minimalist outcome, he said. The review established that in 1999, 23% of Catholics and 10% of women occupied positions within the senior civil service. At the time, Patten report established that there were only 8% Catholics and 12% women in the RUC. "The RUC was subsequently subjected to the Patten Report and review and legislation but there has been no comparative drive to change the senior civil service," said Tim.

He welcomed the fact that the census addressed the issue of racial grouping for the very first time but "interestingly, progress made in monitoring ethnic minorities across the water in criminal justice still hasn't happened in the North of Ireland, despite the Good Friday Agreement, justice review and section 75.

"The Commission for Racial Equality in Britain is able to point out that if you are black in England you are four times more likely to be stopped by the police; in Northern Ireland no figures are available."

A strategic programme

Joanna McMinn described the strategic programme developed by the National Women's Council of Ireland as a template for other equality-based initiatives. "It relates to women's organisations but has wider applications," she said. "It is based upon an equality framework that was developed by the Equality Studies Unit. There are four equality spheres - representation, redistribution, recognition and respect."

Representation relates to empowerment and political equality. Redistribution is the right to a fair share of society's resources. Recognition deals with cultural diversity and Respect with autonomy and personal freedom.

"As you can see from that framework, we have attempted to combine a rights space approach to equality," said Joanna. "Any strategic plan for an organisation in trying to implement equality has to be based upon the mission. We are looking to achieve equality by removing the structural, political, economic, social and cultural effect of inequalities.

"We approach our work in a global and international dimension, while at the same time representing the diversity of women. To do this, we need a strategic use of our resources and to set priorities. Every issue is a woman's issue. So we need a way of prioritising our work. The usefulness of having an equality framework is it helps set priorities.

"Within Redistribution, we have prioritised the unpaid caring work undertaken by many women and the lack of childcare, we set targets we can lobby for. One of our goals is to establish women as autonomous within the social welfare system. Regarding Representation, we're looking to achieve a 30% representation of women in decision-making arenas, particularly the local elections next year," said Joanna.

A practical expression

"This is an important conference," Sinn Féin's Bairbre de Brún told the delegates. "It gives us an opportunity to look at the amount of work done and evaluate what is still to be done."

De Brún noted that Joanne and Kate had both talked about redistribution, representation, recognition and respect. "I think in terms of representation, we need to make it very clear that this is not just a question of political institutions but also government departments and agencies in the policing and justice systems, in fact in every level of society.

"Joan Harbinson talked about an open and shared debate, and this is very much what we are trying to do as part of our work here this morning. It is one of the things that will be crucial in any kind of work that we're going to carry on from here, because I don't think equality and a level playing field is something that any of us are going to get as a gift, either in April or afterwards. Whatever is gained will be a matter of ongoing work.

"It is our job to look at what we have gained, how we have gained it and what are the measures the networking we've been able to do has allowed us to bring about. As with all of these things, we must ask have we fallen down in implementation and when I say we, I'm looking as someone who had ministerial responsibilities and hopes to again. The Good Friday Agreement is not just words; it needs practical expression."

The old Stormont Castle and its supremacist regime had once been "a cold house" for Catholics, nationalists and many other people who suffered discrimination in the shadow of its domination". During the opening session, Dara O'Hagan had told delegates that the conference aimed "to further the democratic debate on equality".

Democratic. Debate. Equality. These words, once unfamiliar to their grand surroundings, now echoed through the corridors of a building that is little more than a theatrical backdrop to work in progress.