Nationalists 'pander to perception' over discrimination says Nesbitt

Former Environment Minister Dermott Nesbitt has said that discrimination no longer exists in Northern Ireland and accused Sinn Fein and the SDLP of "pandering to perception".

Speaking at the party's launch of a booklet on equality, Mr Nesbitt said that it was wrong for people to use the unemployment differential 'yardstick' as evidence of discrimination as it was "not a measure of discrimination or an indication of the lack of equality of opportunity".

He added: "They [SDLP and Sinn Fein] do this community a great disservice by continually claiming that Catholics get a raw deal. The simple truth is they don't. In fact, in many respects, they get a better deal than Protestants."

He also said that the rising Catholic population and the vagaries of the labour market undermine any correlation.

Mr Nesbitt said: "It's about time Sinn Fein and the SDLP stopped playing politics with religion by falsely claiming there is discrimination and inequality. For republicans, the challenge is a big one. Without discrimination, then the justification in the eyes of many of them for the continued existence of the IRA is gone.

"They, and others, should stop pandering to perception and instead begin behaving responsibly so that we can have an honest and candid debate."

However, SDLP assembly member Patricia Lewsley slammed Mr Nesbitt's remarks saying that his claims were "misleading".

"It is true that fair employment laws have increased equality of opportunity. But Dermott cannot claim any credit for that. After all, the UUP opposed every major improvement to our fair employment laws," she said.

"But the bottom line is that we will not have real equality of opportunity until Catholic and Protestant unemployment rates are the same.

"Dermott Nesbitt should be working with the rest of us on this crucial objective instead of arguing that nothing can be done about it."

(GMcG)