community relations policy

Community Relations Council – doomed?

| Readers 5

As reported by Pete, UCD’s Institute for British Irish Studies report for the Rowntree Charitable Trust deplores a perceived retreat from “reconcilation” in the Shared Future document of 2005 to “accommodation” in the FMDFM ‘s “Cohesion ” document now out to consultation. One result of the downscaling looks like the abolition rather than the beefing up of the Community Relations Council, now a bigger target due to the spending cuts. Scrapping the council in favour of an advisory body to …

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Integration – can Robinson and McGuinness be serious?

| Readers 4

FMDFM’s consultation paper A Programme for Cohesion, Sharing and Integration  reads like a plan for radical transforming action. Not a bit like “ motherhood and apple pie” if I may beg to differ from the esteemed Mark Devenport.  On the face of it, the programme cuts across what most local parties stand for and the very dynamic of local politics. Are we to take it seriously? How can we not, for there it is, boldly in print and signed by both of them? …

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Dr Norman Hamilton – looking to the future

| Readers 21

The new Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Dr  Norman Hamilton in his first public speech as head of the church, has addressed sectarianism and the lack of a cohesive community relations policy to address it, calling sectarianism ‘the demon among us.’ I really don’t think having at least 2  different agencies tackling the same issues (and at a time when cuts are due) is helpful, so perhaps it is a time for the Equality Commission and the Community …

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