Mr. Jack O'Connor:

In the course of making his point, Mr. Maskey queried how anyone could be opposed to a bill of rights. It is important that we emphasise his query. From a rational perspective, opposition defies logic.

As to the question of what else we can do, we in ICTU believe there is an obligation on both Governments to press ahead with this issue. If they wait for everyone, it will be too late. Each of us has a responsibility in our respective roles to do everything we can to reassure those who have concerns about the prospect of a bill of rights, to address whatever fears they may have and to encourage them to ventilate those fears. ICTU has a role to play in this regard and we have been endeavouring to do so over the years.

There is also the question of why people would be opposed to equality. There are certain obvious reasons, in that they have a vested interest in a lack of equality. Ironically, it is increasingly clear that even those people are misguided. No less an authority than the IMF acknowledges that exponentially growing inequality played no small part in the global economic collapse that threatened global society as we know it. The IMF believes that the decline in collective bargaining in developed Western societies was one of the causes of exponentially growing inequality. Unlike in the South, our workers in the Six Counties have a legal entitlement to collective bargaining, which one would imagine certain people would fear even more than a bill of rights. This is relevant in the context of the charter of rights aspect of the discussion. Perhaps the committee might bear this issue in mind.

The issue to which Deputy Luke 'Ming' Flanagan referred is arising within my union in the Six Counties. We are not a large organisation in the North, but we do organise there. The question of how to respond properly is the subject of some deliberation in the union. Human rights are for everyone irrespective of what he or she believes.

That is the key to ensuring people have enough confidence in the democracy to abide by the rules and regulations and expectations of human behaviour that participation in a democracy involves. However, if people have reason to point out, with justification, that democratic behaviour and practices do not apply to them, it opens up an issue, especially in deteriorating economic circumstances and the demoralisation that goes with it. I do not know if that is a full answer to the points raised by Deputy Luke 'Ming' Flanagan but the point we are making is that human rights, as enshrined in a bill of rights, is provided for in the Agreement. The people voted for it across the entire island and the Governments signed up for it. It is key to ensuring the progress that has been made is maintained and that we can go on to a better future for everyone.