Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

The protection of human rights and the promotion of equality is at the heart of the Good Friday Agreement. This was collectively affirmed by the parties in the commitment in the agreement to "the mutual respect, the civil rights and the religious liberties of everyone in the community". This included in particular "the right to equal opportunity in all social and economic activity, regardless of class, creed, disability, gender or ethnicity".

The Government has consistently sought to pursue the equality agenda set out in the agreement and which was further elaborated in the Joint Declaration by the British and Irish Governments in April 2003.

The Government actively monitors the situation on the ground in Northern Ireland as regards discrimination and inequality. This is done through regular official level engagement with community contacts, with political representatives, members of the NGO and academic community and with representatives of the relevant official bodies, such as the Equality Commission and the Human Rights Commission. These measures are effective, equipping us to actively advance the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement in the equality area.

During my own frequent visits to Northern Ireland I make a point of meeting individuals and community representatives from both traditions. These visits are a very valuable direct source of information, including of course on equality issues.

In keeping with the high priority which the Government attaches to the equality agenda, we use the institutional framework of the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference and meetings of the conference to engage with the British Government on the implementation of the equality provisions in the Good Friday Agreement and the joint declaration. Equality issues are a regular item on the agenda for ministerial and summit meetings of the conference, as the communiqués of those meetings make clear.

Overall, while there has been some progress, we should like to see more — especially as regards the employment differential and the allocation of public housing. The issue was discussed at the last meeting of the BIIGC and will be pursued further at the next meeting planned for later this month. We will, of course, continue to keep individual cases under review and raise them, as appropriate, through the framework of the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference.

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