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Roughly 7 out of the 77 appointments made by Newry, Mourne and Down District Council in the year to 1 January 2022 were from the Protestant community with 88% from the Roman Catholic community. That equates to 10.39% of the total positions filled despite the fact that 21.69% of the applicants were from that community. The previous year it was 14.58% appointed with 25.74% of the Protestant community applying.
The figures were brought up at July's full council meeting when Mournes Councillor Henry Reilly said he didn't believe Protestant's were getting 'a fair crack of the whip'
Cllr Reilly speaking on the Council's Fair Employment Monitoring Return that was in the Agenda for 16 June Strategy, Policy and Resources meeting 'For Noting' spoke of his shock.
"There was a report that came to Council and I was truly shocked by it because if you look for 2022 even though the Protestant section of the community in Newry, Mourne and Down District is 24%, the jobs allocated to the Protestant community equated to 10% whereas the Catholic community, that's 72% of the district got 88% of the jobs this year.
"Now I'm at a loss how the Council can justify that and I want to know is it that the Protestant community is producing very inferior candidates for job applications for the council or is there a subliminal bias there towards the Catholic community, because as a representative I want to see fairness for all people. I don't care if you're black, white, gay, straight, Protestant, Catholic, I want people to be treated fairly by this Council and I do not believe that the Protestant community in particular are getting a fair crack of the whip, given those figures which are horrendous." said Cllr Reilly.
Slieve Gullion Councillor Barra Ó Muirí replied "I suppose there's a lot of factors that would need to be looked at for all Councillors. It would be very easy to turn round and play a numbers game to say the Catholic community and the Protestant community ... We've no idea how many people from each sector are applying for jobs in the first place. You made a statement about producing inferior candidates which I can't get my head around at all because, you'd need to know the facts, you'd need to know how many people are applying for the jobs, how many are qualified for the jobs, how many people were interviewed for the jobs. It's a very simplistic and general way you are looking at it without us having full control of the facts."
The figures quoted by Cllr Reilly were from a table shown at the June SP&R meeting which shows the state of play for the year up to 1 January 2022 and compares it to the year up to 1 January 2021. Latest figures show that while 21.69% of total job applications were from the Protestant community in year to 1 Jan 2022 just 10.39% of applicants from that community were successful in obtaining employment.
Cllr Reilly came back "Sinn Féin always put their own spin on things, they can never accept facts when they're presented to them if it doesn't suit their narrative and their agenda, but certainly I don't think the Protestant community should be disadvantaged to that extent where they are only getting 10% of job opportunities. It's just not fair and nobody can justify it, not even Sinn Féin."
Council CEO Marie Ward then added "Just to say that Newry, Mourne and Down is an equal opportunities employer. We are acutely aware of the under representation from the Protestant community in the Council and we as part of our marketing around posts or job we put a narrative in around 'We particularly welcome applicants from members of the Protestant community who are currently under represented in parts of our workforce.' So the council are proactively looking at that. There is a lot of detail around the figures and it's important that you don't look at any figure in isolation."
"I would also say to members that we comply with all equality regulations around employment as well."
Cllr Reilly proposed that a meeting would be held on the matter a proposal that was seconded by fellow Mournes Councillor Glyn Hanna.
"We can't just brush this under the carpet. This is an extremely serious case. Ten percent of the population, 7 jobs out of 77. That can't be acceptable for any Council. You can say that we are applying fair employment legistation, it's a joke then if that's the case. There has to be fairness to all sections of the community.
Chairman Cllr Michael Savage said "Henry I've allowed more than sufficient time. I've allowed you in three times now. Marie [Ward, CEO] has outlined that we take this back to the Equality Forum for further discussion and there's been a proposal from yourself seconded by Cllr Hanna that we do that. Are members happy enough to move on and take it to that Forum"
Councillor David Taylor also thought the matter needed addressed "There is obviously a piece of work required in respect of this and I think the concerns that have been outlined are genuine concerns and I think anybody would acknowledge that. There is a piece of work required and if the Equality and Good Relations Forum is the best forum to do that so be it. It's something that needs to be addressed and looked at in more detail because whilst obviously we have the figures in front of us, we need to go in to more depth as to why there is that under representation and continues to be under representation and try to get to the core of the problem as to where it lies and what we as a council can do to address that so I would ask thats brought to the next Equality and Good Relations Forum to allow us to initiate a discussion and move the issue forward."
Cll Savage added "That's what the Forum was set up for, issues and concerns of that nature and as Chair I believe that is somewhere that those discussions should take place. I understand the concerns that have been raised. I think that when we drill down in to the detail we may find that there are numerous reasons as to why that underrepresentation has happened but I think there is a body of work we can do to discover why this is happening and get to the bottom of it and try and address it as best we can. I know that Marie and the staff at senior level will endeavour to follow through on that. So if we work on that basis, that we take it back to the Equality and Good Relations Forum for further discussions and see how that evolves."
Councillor Charlie Casey said he didn't believe that Newry, Mourne and Down Council discriminated and asked for information on how other Councils compared "I don't believe for one minute that this Council operate discriminatory practices. Can we just get a comparrison If we are doing that work, get a comparrison across all Councils while we are at it."
