By Paul McGill from NICVA
Published on 18 Jun 2008
The Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action (NICVA) has called on the Executive to issue a plan to promote good relations. “We have had the Assembly for a year now but Northern Ireland still has a deep problem with sectarianism – and we have problems of racism on top,” said NICVA’s director of policy Frances McCandless.
Ms McCandless was speaking at an important conference on Cohesion, Sharing and Integration, one of the events being held to mark European Year of Intercultural Dialogue. She went on to say:
“The First and Deputy First Ministers have made welcome comments about tackling sectarianism and racism but we need a systematic plan to eradicate prejudice in Northern Ireland.”
One issue the conference in Lisburn examined was the absence of a Shared Future strategy from the Executive to build on the plan developed by Direct Rule Ministers.
“Voluntary and community organisations cannot wait any longer. Our conference examined our responsibility and looked at things we can do to solve the problem. We hope it will also persuade Ministers that developing a strategy for all of society needs greater urgency", Ms McCandless added.
A recent survey found that half of the people who work in the voluntary and community sector think community relations in Northern Ireland are getting better but another half disagree.
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