MEP comments on Church of Ireland Gazette editorial on Bill of Rights
03 January 2008
Statement by Jim Allister MEP:
“The editorial in the Church of Ireland Gazette, opposing a Bill of Rights specific to Northern Ireland, was a breath of fresh air. Its clarity of thought and ability to identify the dangerous political agenda at work, was such as to put many politicians to shame.
In Northern Ireland we already have adherence to the European Convention on Human Rights, the Human Rights Act, entrenched anti-discrimination laws, statutory equality requirements flowing from Section 75 of the NI Act and, if the EU Reform Treaty is ratified, in time we will be subject to the EU Charter of Fundamental Freedoms. Patently, from a perspective of need, there is no requirement for a further “Bill of Rights”. Thus, the Gazette is right when it detects political machinations as the driving motivation.
It is seen, correctly, by those promoting it as a means to drive a further wedge between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK and, because a parallel process is intended for the Republic, it is part of the all-island harmonisation which is the means to the end of Irish unification. I cannot better it, so I merely repeat what the Gazette editorial said,
“It is obvious that there are those in the Stormont establishment who want a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland, as opposed to the UK as a whole, because they want Northern Ireland to relate more closely to the Republic of Ireland than to the rest of the UK….A Bill of Rights is such a foundational document that, if there has to be one, it should refer to the entire UK; it would be inconsistent for there to be different fundamental rights in different parts of the one country. For many reasons, a Northern Ireland Bill of Rights is plainly and simply wrong.”
