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11/06/2015
NICEM Apologises For Comparing School Merger Plan With Holy Cross Dispute
The Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities (NICEM) has issued an apology for comparing a school merger plan with the Holy Cross sectarian dispute in 2001.
The NICEM said it would never aim to "demonise" or "label" any communities within Northern Ireland.
The Holy Cross dispute occurred in 2001 and 2002 in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast.
Loyalists began picketing the school, claiming that Catholics were regularly attacking their homes and denying them access to facilities. Hundreds of protesters tried to stop the schoolchildren and their parents from walking to school through the area. Some protesters shouted sectarian abuse and threw stones, bricks, fireworks, blast bombs and urine-filled balloons at the schoolchildren and their parents.
Death threats were also made.
In a statement NICEM said: "It was never, and has never been our aim or our intention to demonise or label any communities within Northern Ireland. We acknowledge that using this comparison was a poor choice.
Our fundamental issue is and continues to be, about the way in which the Education Authority and the Minister of Education has managed this process. The Education Authority has chosen to consult on these issues outside the regular consultation proceedings, thus circumventing its Section 75 equality duty. Consequently, all families have been asked to agree to a merger, without being provided with adequate information, such as actual availability of capital for a new building and on the potential site. No equality impact assessment, including the security risk assessment, being provided to all consultees."
(CD/MH)
The NICEM said it would never aim to "demonise" or "label" any communities within Northern Ireland.
The Holy Cross dispute occurred in 2001 and 2002 in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast.
Loyalists began picketing the school, claiming that Catholics were regularly attacking their homes and denying them access to facilities. Hundreds of protesters tried to stop the schoolchildren and their parents from walking to school through the area. Some protesters shouted sectarian abuse and threw stones, bricks, fireworks, blast bombs and urine-filled balloons at the schoolchildren and their parents.
Death threats were also made.
In a statement NICEM said: "It was never, and has never been our aim or our intention to demonise or label any communities within Northern Ireland. We acknowledge that using this comparison was a poor choice.
Our fundamental issue is and continues to be, about the way in which the Education Authority and the Minister of Education has managed this process. The Education Authority has chosen to consult on these issues outside the regular consultation proceedings, thus circumventing its Section 75 equality duty. Consequently, all families have been asked to agree to a merger, without being provided with adequate information, such as actual availability of capital for a new building and on the potential site. No equality impact assessment, including the security risk assessment, being provided to all consultees."
(CD/MH)
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