40th ANNIVERSARY OF CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT IN NORTHERN IRELAND

That this House notes that 2008 is the 40th anniversary of the commencement of the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland, which was aimed primarily at employment and housing rights; recognises that 40 years on there are a range of commissions and non-departmental public bodies to ensure fairness and transparency in these and many other areas; believes that, whereas Roman Catholics felt disadvantaged when there were few safeguards and little data available to verify disadvantage in 1968, it is Protestants who in 2008 face disadvantage in jobs and cultural rights despite the existence of the data which verifies their claim to disadvantage and the organisations whose task it is to ensure that such disadvantage no longer exists; and calls upon those bodies to work to ensure that there is genuine equality in Northern Ireland for all.