failure to officially recognise the culture of Ulster-Scots in Ireland was an example of "sheer naked prejudice", Lord Laird of Artigarvan said yesterday.
The Ulster Unionist peer was speaking in advance of a meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights later today to consider submissions on the Human Rights Bill.
Mr Austen Morgan, a barrister involved in the negotiation of the Belfast Agreement, is due to make submissions on the Human Rights Bill. He warned that at present the Bill was "an empty vessel" which would not significantly improve the protection of human rights.
Arguing that the Government had not implemented its human rights obligations under the agreement, Lord Laird said Ireland had to move from being "monocultural to being multicultural". There were a small number of people in key decision-making positions who did not believe the Ulster-Scots were worthy of recognition.
If the Belfast Agreement was not fully implemented in Ireland with regard to human rights, Lord Laird warned, "then you'll simply have the Troubles again in 20 years. We have got to change the entire atmosphere which is anti-British, anti-unionist, anti-Protestant, anti-Ulster-Scots in the Irish Republic".
Meanwhile, Mr Morgan said that if the Human Rights Bill proceeded, the Government would continue to be in breach of its obligations under the Belfast Agreement.
While the British government had spent the last three years implementing the Belfast Agreement, the Irish Government had concerned itself with establishing the Human Rights Commission, "which is still not set up".