Northern Ireland Community Relations Council - About Us - Council Minutes

12 November 2004

Minutes of the

Policy Development Committee Meeting

Friday 12th November 2004

Present: Robin Wilson (Chair), Roise Ni Bhaoill, Ann Anderson Porter, Edwin Graham.

Apologies: Declan O'Loan, Ward Erwin, Ali McAllister.

In Attendance: Duncan Morrow, Dympna McGlade, Patricia O'Neill, David Russell, Peter Thompson.

Minutes and matters arising:

Minutes agreed as accurate

CR Policy Committee review

Following on from the previous meeting the committee agreed to set in motion the development of a work plan for the upcoming year. Mr Wilson submitted a paper to the committee for approval on how the committee will function in the future.

After discussion the following issues were raised:

Paragraph 10 is too restrictive on number of papers that can be produced in a year.
Policy in relation to CRC - responsibility will ultimately fall with Council members otherwise happy with the paper and recommendations
How does council liaise with expertise outside? Will consider working groups for specific areas i.e. flags and emblems
Co-optees need to have a space to have their say to feed into recommendations to Council
Will need to consider funding for future work e.g. research, seminars, publications, speakers etc.
PD Committee work plan to be reviewed after 1 year.

Mr Wilson agreed to re-draft the paper by Tuesday to include suggestions made during discussion.

Council Areas Research

The Committee was asked for guidance on the content of the research and for consideration on how to take the research forward. After discussion the following points were made:

Make into common single report; an academic to draw from reports and turn into generic research rather than identify individual councils
Need to do a check on facts contained in research
Pre-amble to set research into context
Focus on areas only with verifiable evidence.

Single Equality Bill

Mr Russell gave an overview of his findings on the Single Equality Bill to the Committee. He stated that Good Relations is almost totally absent from the Bill and has only been given lip service. There is a risk that the new bill could completely strike Section 75(2) down the agenda and make it obsolete.

The committee recommended that a short reply be issued highlighting the lack of Good Relations throughout the bill.

Programme for Government - Draft Priorities and Budget 2005-08

After discussion the Committee recommended a reply be issued and to include the following points:

Concern over lack of reference to Good Relations Strategy in the document

Need to argue on budget points i.e. needs dedicated budget for shared future

AOB

Dates for next years PD Committee meetings were discussed and agreed as follows:

Friday 14th January 2005

Friday 4th March 2005

Friday 13th May 2005

Friday 16th September 2005

Friday 11th November 2005