CIARAN BRADLEY,
Sir, - Paul Rowlandson (January 19th) repeats inaccuracies about Northern Ireland's anti-discrimination legislation, even though we have previously corrected his comments in direct correspondence and in your columns and those of other newspapers.
On this occasion he states: "In areas where the Catholic unemployment rate is higher than the Protestant unemployment rate, the Equality Commission demands that employers give preferential treatment to Catholic applicants."
This is the exact opposite of the truth. The Equality Commission implements the Fair Employment and Treatment Order which demands that employers do not give preferential treatment to Catholic or Protestant applicants, whether there is an under-representation or not. The Equality Commission has assisted cases taken to the Fair Employment Tribunal against employers who did show preference, and we consistently advice and train employers that such actions are unlawful.
Lawful affirmative action measures can include welcoming statements in advertisements or outreach programmes to attract applicants from the under-represented community, but no preference may be shown for any applicant on grounds of religious belief or political opinion.
There is now a single exception to this - the 50/50 recruitment provisions for the Police Service of Northern Ireland, which required exempting legislation and a specific provision in the European Employment Directive. There is no such exemption in any other sphere of employment and Mr Rowlandson's statements that such a requirement by the Equality Commission is leading to an increase in the Protestant unemployment rate is founded upon misinformation and is untrue. - Yours, etc.,
CIARAN BRADLEY, Deputy Director, Public Affairs, Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, Belfast.