"Public policy must place integration over segregation": Boyle

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 18th Apr 2005

Alliance candidate for East Londonderry has called for all public policy in Northern Ireland to be proofed to ensure it promotes integration.

Yvonne Boyle, who is also a local government candidate in Coleraine, stated: "The purpose of public policy in Northern Ireland must be to promote integration at the expense of segregation, as the only real means of healing the divisions in our society.

"It is perverse that, just along the road from here, parents have had to seek funding from Australia for an integrated school. It is perverse that people who do not even think of people's religious background have to prove they are cross-community to access a fair share of grant aid. It is perverse that society allows even separate bus stops for Catholics and Protestants. This benign apartheid must stop.

"The Alliance Party's suggestion of policy proofing, known as Policy Appraisal for Sharing over Separation or PASS, would work similarly to equality or rural proofing. Government and politicians must lead the way in ending division and promoting the common good."

ENDS