Equality Commission should stop pandering to sectarian dole outs

9.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 5th Jun 2006

Alliance North Down Councillor, Ian Parsley

North Down Alliance Councillor Ian James Parsley has slammed the Equality Commission for backing a claim by the _Daily Ireland_ newspaper against the UK Government.

Cllr Parsley stated: "This is another classic 'only in Northern Ireland' case. A government-funded body helps a government-subsidised paper group take an action against the government over apparent failure to give it government money to publish government adverts. What a farce!

"The _Daily Ireland_ has every right to take whatever legal recourse it wishes, and it may well have a case in law.

"However, the Equality Commission is now pandering to the notion that public money should be doled out on a sectarian basis. Most people would far rather the Equality Commission got on with real cases of individuals facing genuine discrimination which threatens their livelihoods, rather than becoming embroiled in an argument which is fundamentally along sectarian, political lines.

"One wonders if it would have been quite so quick to back a claim from a cross-community paper -- such as the _Daily View_, which despite high-quality journalism went bust due to low readership figures. That is the nature of the market."

ENDS