Allister Exposes a Hat Trick of Discrimination by Sinn Fein Ministers
26 July 2012
Statement by North Antrim MLA Jim Allister:
“Following on from the findings of religious discrimination by the Industrial Tribunal in Lennon-v-DRD I tabled a series of Assembly questions to find out how Protestant applicants had fared in ministerial appointments under other Sinn Fein Ministers.
“The answer when it came from Cullan’s DCAL was that, as in DRD under Murphy, a Roman Catholic applicant was more than twice as likely as a Protestant applicant to be appointed since the Sinn Fein Minister came to office in May 2011.
“Now in a response to a written question the Minister of Agriculture has been forced to reveal that the same pattern exists within her department and as Sinn Fein have been in control of the Department since May 2007 it covers a longer period.
“Since Sinn Fein assumed office in DARD there have been 46 ministerial appointments. 247 applications were received in respect of competitions held for these appointments and of these applicants 159 (64%) were Protestant, 74 (30%) were Roman Catholic while 14 (6%) were classified as either Neither or were unknown. Of the 159 Protestant applicants only 24 were appointed, whereas 20 of the 74 Roman Catholic applicants were successful, demonstrating that in DARD too Catholic applicants had twice the success rate of Protestant applicants in securing a ministerial appointment
"It is no coincidence that yet another Sinn Fein led department has been found out to be operating an anti-Protestant bias in its ministerial appointments. This points to design, not accident; coming on top of the damning indictment of Murphy, and my exposure of what has been going on in DCAL under Sinn Fein, shows up as a systemic trait of Sinn Fein rule.
"It also exposes the hypocrisy of Sinn Fein's pretence of treating all citizens equally. With three ministers now found out as practitioners of anti-Protestant bias the meaning of "ourselves alone" is clear for all to see.
“This issue cannot continue to be brushed under the carpet. If similar discrimination was found to be taking place against the Roman Catholic population Sinn Fein would be shouting from the rooftops yet in the brave new Northern Ireland it seems discrimination against Protestants is acceptable.”
Note to editors
Mr Allister’s questions and the response received were as follows:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, in relation to ministerial appointments, what the respective success rates have been for Protestant and Catholic applicants since May 2007.
There have been 46 ministerial appointments made to DARD -sponsored Non Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs) since May 2007. Of these, 24 appointees (52%) declared community background as Protestant , 20 appointees (43%) as Roman Catholic and 2 appointees as “Neither”. A total of 247 applications were received in respect of competitions held for these appointments, of which 159 (64%) declared community background as Protestant, 74 (30%) as Roman Catholic, 12 (5%) as “Neither” and 2 (1%) were unknown.
The data for DCAL is online here.
The Tribunal in Lennon-v-DRD found that during Conor Murphy’s time in office there was “a material bias against the appointment of candidates from a Protestant background”.
