Northern Ireland Community Relations Council - Campaigns

2.1.2013 Irish News: CSI Stormont proves politically perplexing - Newton Emerson Click here for article

28.12.2012 Northern Ireland shared future blueprint misses deadline... again Click here for article

Jenny Muir, Lets stop pretending about CSI, blog 24th July 2012 Click here for article

On 19th July 2012 Owen Patterson stated in an address to Members of the Institute of International and European Affairs in Dublin "It is profoundly disappointing that we are still awaiting publication of the Cohesion, Sharing and Integration strategy from the Executive." To view the complete address click here First Minister Peter Robinson said Mr Paterson's remarks were "ill-advised", Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness described the secretary of state's speech as "clumsy and ill-thought out". To read BBC article click here

The First and Deputy First Minister issued a statement on 19th July 2012 which commented on a number of outstanding issues. They stated the following in relation to CSI:

‘The First Minister and deputy First Minister have received a report from their representatives on the CSI working group. They are encouraged that considerable progress has been made. The First and deputy First Ministers will meet with party leaders in early September to conclude the process.’

Following the publication of this statement the UUP’s John McCallister stepped down from the Executive’s CSI Working Group and said the following "They are not interested in inclusive politics, they have forgotten the hard lessons of the peace process and they have demonstrated that their approach to a shared future is disingenuous. There is no point in carrying on discussion in such an environment." Click here for full statement
(UUP withdraws from CSI Stormont working group BBC 19th July 2012 Click here for article)

The UUP departure follows the previous resignation of the Alliance’s Chris Lyttle, who stepped down in May, David Ford stated "The current process has become an attempt at creating an illusion - an illusion that the DUP and Sinn Fein are serious about agreeing a strategy that will actually promote a shared society." Click here for full statement
(Alliance walks away from key talks over shared future plans, Belfast Telegraph Liam Clarke 25th May 2012 Click here for article)

Robin Wilson, Platform for Change, comments on CSI in Belfast Telegraph 1st November 2011. Click here for article

The responses to the CSI consultation, associated analysis and departmental response has now been published on the OFMDFM website - can be accessed at link below.
http://www.ofmdfmni.gov.uk/index/equality/community-relations/csi-consultation.htm

Eastwood: CSI consultation confirms inherent flaws SDLP OFMDFM spokesperson Colum Eastwood says the consultation responses to the CSI strategy confirm the inherent flaws within the original document.

Cohesion, Sharing and Integration policy and Public Sector Cuts Ray Mullan, Communications Director at the Northern Ireland Community Relations Council proposes an alternative strategy to public spending cuts in the region by tackling the costly problem of sectarian violence and segregation. Click on title to view article.

Mr. M. McGuinness deputy First Minister

Official report (Hansard) first day brief 25 May 2011

Committee for the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister

We carried out an extensive consultation exercise on the programme for cohesion, sharing and integration last year. The responses have been analysed independently and a report provided. The five main political parties have agreed to appoint representatives to a working group that will seek consensus on issues that will enable the publication of a cohesion, sharing and integration strategy. That group will consider the consultation responses, and all departments will be asked for their input. All consultation responses will be shared with the working group as well as the committee. A road map that sets out the steps and timetable for the strategy and a robust action plan will be brought forward. It is anticipated that the strategy and action plan will be ready for the autumn and December respectively.

Tracking the Cohesion, Sharing and Integration Programme

(compiled by CRC's Policy Programme)

Cohesion, Sharing and Integration Programme consultation process tracking

Click here for document

John Brewer - Peace Processes Neglect Society? Click on the link and go to Sunday Sequence page to hear John Brewer talk of Peace Processes (BBC 9th January)

Responses

Must Try Harder
CRC's Response to CSI
To view the full response click here
To view Executive Summary click here

Belfast Interface Project response to CSI
To view the response click here

Business in the Community welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Programme Cohesion, Sharing and Integration (CSI) on behalf of the leading Business organisations including NI Chamber of Commerce, Institute of Directors, NI Centre for Competitiveness and NI Independent Retail Trade Association.
To view this response click here

CAF response to CSI
Click her to view response

CAJ's response to the Office of First Minister and Deputy First Minister's consultation on Cohesion, Sharing and Integration
Click here to read the response

Carrick Borough Churches Forum's response to CSI
To view the response click here

CBI response to the Programme for Cohesion, Sharing and Integration Consultation Document
To view the response click here

Chartered Institute of Housing in Northern Ireland response to CSI
Click her to view the response

Response of the four Area Children and Young People's Committees
Click here to view the response

CiNI Response to CSI
Click here to view response

Response to CSI from Childhood, Transition and Social Justice Initiative, Queens University, Belfast
Click here to view the response

Consumer Council of NI response
Click here to view the response

Corrymeela's Response to CSI
To view the full response click here
To view the overarching themes click here

Joint Response to CSI from Disability Action, Women's Aid, LASI and The Rainbow Project
To read the response click here

The Equality Commission Response to CSI
To view the response click here

A Gender Critique of the Draft CSI Strategy. To view the response click on the link below.
Click here

Healing Through Remembering response to CSI
Read here

ICTU response to the Programme for Cohesion, Sharing and Integration Consultation Document
Click here to view the response

Integrated Education Fund response to CSI
Click here to view the response

Interfaith Forum response to CSI
Click here

Labour Party of Northern Ireland Response to Cohesion, Sharing and Integration Consultation Document
To view the response click here

To view NICEM's response to the CSI Strategy click on the link below
Click here

NICVA's Response to CSI
To view the response click here

Coming together - for a change - A personal contribution by Rt Rev Dr Norman Hamilton OBE - Minister of Ballysillan Presbyterian Church, Belfast and Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland 2010 / 2011
To view the response click here

Northern Ireland Housing Council responds to the CSI consultation
To view the response click here.

Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission respond to CSI
To view their response click on the link below.
Click here

Northern Ireland Liberal Democrats respond to CSI
View the response here

Northern Ireland Local Government Association respond to CSI
View the response here

Northern Ireland Rural Women's Network response to CSI
Click here to view the response

Northern Ireland Youth Forum Response
Click here to read the response

Northern Visions/NvTv Response to Cohesion Sharing and Integration Consultation
To view the response click here

Peter Makem made the following response to the CSI Document
It seems that the CSI Consultation looks on the Good Friday Agreement and the accompanying plebsite both North and South as an end and not a beginning. There is a strong sense of unwriten text that a base of division suits the political status quo and should not be tampered with. The reality is that the Agreement provides a fresh challenge and a fresh potential for the work of the CRC which ploughed a lone furrow through many years of the Troubles, and should now be encouraged to move with fresh vigour. In our festival which began in 2000, we work with considerable success to find what deeply unites through the song tradition, what creates a common bond of self worth and destinty. The CRC through its encouragement and support are major factors in this post agreement development.

Queerspace Response to the Consultation for Cohesion, Sharing and Integration
To view the response click here

The Rainbow Project respond to the CSI consultation document. To view the response click on the link below.
Click here

RCN response to CSI
To view the response click here

Refugee Action Group Response to Cohesion, Sharing and Integration Consultation Document
To view the response click here

ULTACH response to CSI
To view response click here

Unite the Union Response to the CSI
To view the response click here

Volunteer Now response to CSI
Click here to view the response

Derick Wilson's response to CSI
To view response click here

The Workers' Party response to CSI
To view response click here

Response by the Youth Council for Northern Ireland
To view the response click here

'Cohesion, Sharing and Integration' policy backward step for community relations'

The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT), a British foundation which has funded human rights, peace and equality work in Northern Ireland since the 1970s, has expressed its concern about the content and aspirations of OFMDFM's new 'Cohesion, Sharing and Integration' strategy.
To read the Trust's Press Release on CSI click here
To access the report click here

Comment

Beware hollow talk of a shared future in 2011 - Brian Walker, Slugger O'Toole, 31st December 2010, click on link below to read article.

http://sluggerotoole.com/2010/12/31/beware-hollow-talk-of-a-shared-future-in-2011/

John Hatch's analysis of CSI from Corrymeela Magazine
Click to read the article

RCN Article on CSI - Cohesion, Sharing and Integration: Get It Right - Getting It Wrong Simply Won’t Do
Hot on the heels of OFMDFM’s seemingly doomed proposals to deal with assemblies, parades and protests, the much anticipated consultation on OFMDFM’s Programme for Cohesion, Sharing and Integration (CSI) formally concluded on 28 October, hopefully to disappear into the ether never to re-surface. Heralded as the replacement for the Shared Future Strategy, CSI has met with widespread condemnation for its lack of vision, targets, resource allocation, outcomes and its reluctance or inability to define what cohesion, integration, community relations, sectarianism or segregation really mean. It’s been a pretty grim few months for the Department’s efforts to develop policies and legislation around community and good relations issues.

In our response to the CSI Programme (it was never a Strategy), RCN welcomed a number of the points made within the consultation document including:

The clarification that the Equality of Opportunity provisions as set out in Section 75 (1) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 underpins good relations and the recognition that good relations cannot be built on inequality.
The expression of concern for individuals who are migrant workers but have ‘no recourse to public funds’ and who, through no fault of their own, may find themselves destitute and in need of short term support.
The fact that the programme states that it will adopt a zero tolerance approach towards hate crime

However for the most part, RCN could not accept the document as setting out a route map for addressing many of the key community and good relations issues that impact on our communities whether within a rural or urban setting. As a consequence of our analysis of the CSI Programme, RCN made several recommendations for improvement which included:

OFMDFM and the wider Executive re-engaging with the breadth of civic society groups including community and voluntary sector, trade unions, churches, sporting organisations and loyal orders to develop a comprehensive CSI policy with an accompanying wide ranging action plan which has specific actions, timescales, resource allocations, hoped for outcomes and effective systems for monitoring and evaluation.
Clear definitions are set out within the CSI programme for cohesion, sharing and integration
CSI analyses how sectarianism, segregation and racism manifest differently in rural communities and that specific actions are developed to address these issues in rural areas.
A clear affirmation on the cross departmental nature of the programme setting out how government departments will be expected to address these issues across their remit.
The retention of the Community Relations Council as an independent, critical voice offering advice and promoting debate and understanding on these issues.

In concluding our response, RCN referred OFMDFM to our Rural Manifesto chapter on Shared Future. In the manifesto, RCN asked of our politicians ‘… that the Executive brings forward to implementation a strategic programme aimed at building a better and shared society which recognises the distinct issues around sectarianism and racism in rural areas and which obligates both government departments and local government to actively deliver meaningful actions on the ground to address these issues.’ Our consideration of this ask is quite simple - the CSI programme, as it stands, falls far short.

To view the full response visit http://www.ruralcommunitynetwork.org/policy/policyresponses.aspx

New attack on anti hate strategy
To read the article on the Belfast Telegraph site click here

Church of Ireland slams blueprint to battle division
To read the article on the Belfast Telegraph site click here

CSI: should try harder - but probably won’t - East Belfast Diary 9th November 2010
To read the comments click here

Capital spending must help deliver shared future
Click here to read RICS comment on CSI

Anti-sectarian plan ‘doomed to fail’ as support evaporates, Belfast Telegraph, 10th November, 2010
To read more click here

Proper focus on building a shared future needed
Gerry Moriarty, Irish Times 8th November.
To view the article click here

UUP leader adds to the criticism of anti-hate strategy
Belfast Telegraph 2nd November, 2010
Read more

Alliance joins call to overhaul 'shared future' blueprint
Raymond Kilpatrick, Belfast Telegraph, 1st November 2010
Read more

Plans for tackling North's divisions sharply criticised
The Irish Times - Monday, November 1, 2010
To view the article click here

Back to drawing board for integration draft
Belfast Telegraph Article 29.10.10, to view article click on the link below
Click here (this will take you to the Belfast Telegraph site)

Editor's Viewpoint: It's time to build unity not barriers in Northern Ireland
Belfast Telegraph Article 29.10.10, to view article click on the link below
Click here (this will take you to the Belfast Telegraph site)

Good Fences don't always result in good neighbours
The Cohesion, Sharing and Integration proposals are typical of the Executive's DUP-Sinn Fein carve-up, says Tom Elliott in the Belfast Telegraph, 26th October 2010
Click here to read more

We must dismantle lingering divides and create a reconciled, vibrant North
Article by Duncan Morrow in the Irish Times 25.10.10. To read the article click on the link below.
Click here

The Challenge to Change
Article by Duncan Morrow in the Belfast Telegraph on 22.10.10 to read the article click on the link below.
Click here

Robinson-McGuinness plan to tackle Sectarianism criticised
Click here for the article written by Dan Keenan, Northern News Editor, which appeared in the Irish Times on 20 October 2010.

Programme for Cohesion, Sharing & Integration - MUST TRY HARDER!
CAF hosted a consultation on the Programme for Cohesion, Sharing, Integration (CSI) on 23rd September 2010.
For more information click here

How can Northern Ireland progress towards a more peaceful future? The Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister has laid out its ‘strategy’ in its Cohesion, Sharing and Integration (CSI) document.
Dr Gladys Ganiel, Belfast Telegraph, 13.10.10
To read the article click here

Archbishop of Armagh Diocesan Synod Address Tuesday, 12 October 2010
Diocesan News
‘We still need to articulate a coherent vision for the society ... such a vision must not seek solutions to the challenges of a divided society on the basis of equal but separate communities: separate development is not a recipe for a sustainable and harmonious future.’
To read the entire address click here

Tribalism is on the wane. So why make it public policy?
Belfast Telegraph, 12.10.10
To read Eamonn's article click here

Is the Executive Papering Over the Cracks? 11 October 2010
To read comment from WIMPS click here

Harnessing the passion of youth is key to the future
Paul Smyth, Belfast Telegraph 7th October
To read the article click here

Must do better
(by Duncan Morrow, Chief Executive of the Community Relations Council in Agenda NI)
To read the article click here

Community Relations Council – doomed?
Brian Walker, 6th October on Slugger, to see the article follow the link below.
http://sluggerotoole.com/2010/10/06/community-relations-council-doomed/

Community Dialogue produced a document trying to make the CSI document more accessible and including some key questions at the end.
To read the document click here

Links to Responses to the Rowntree report
To see the full report click here

“this may suit political parties with a deeply rooted sense of conflicting priorities based on ethnic division”
http://sluggerotoole.com/2010/10/04/this-may-suit-political-parties-with-a-deeply-rooted-sense-of-conflicting-priorities-based-on-ethnic-division/

"Cohesion Sharing and Integration: Northern Ireland could do better"
http://www.gladysganiel.com/victims/cohesion-sharing-and-integration-northern-ireland-can-do-better/

"Damning criticism of plan to heal Northern Ireland divisions"
http://fenian32.livejournal.com/5272937.html

"Shared future plan is 'backward step' "
http://www.silobreaker.com/shared-future-plan-is-backward-step-5_2263771879330283585

"Executive's cohesion plan 'lacks clear vision' "
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11462266

"Charity slams cohesion blueprint"
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/charity-slams-cohesion-blueprint-14965688.html

A human rights trust has criticised the Executive's latest plans to promote a shared future, which are said to be a 'backward step' from a previous scheme published in 2005.http://www.u.tv/News/Shared-future-plan-is-backward-step/e8c9c361-84f2-4170-92e3-36729eb8ea42

A Legacy that still endures- John Hunter reflects on the importance of victim support work in any planning for the future. The Belfast Telegraph on 13th September
To read the article click here.
To read the complete Deloitte Report click here.

Joanne Murphy analyses the contents of the OFMDFM consultation document on Cohesion, Sharing and Integration – and finds the paper sadly wanting.
The Newsletter, 25^th September.
To view the above article click here.

Educating for a better tomorrow, Professor Sir George Bain, the Belfast Telegraph on 22nd September.
To view the above article click here.

Cohesion Sharing and Integration Strategy “joke” - Conall McDevitt, SDLP MLA for South Belfast, 10th June 2010
To view the article click here

Events

Cohesion, Sharing and Integration - Shared Housing
The Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister has now published the Northern Ireland Executive’s Programme for Cohesion, Sharing and Integration (CSI) for consultation. This will determine the key actions that the Northern Ireland Executive believes are crucial to achieving a shared and better future for all. Encouraging shared neighbourhoods is listed as a theme for action, but in the context of long-term priorities. Housing’s role in achieving social cohesion was highlighted by the Commission on the Future for Housing and, with the aim of taking forward the Commission’s recommendations in this area, we are seeking your views on the role which housing professionals should play in implementing the Programme for Cohesion, Sharing and Integration.

To go to the survey click here

Lunchtime briefing on the Programme for Cohesion, Sharing and Integration (CSI)
The Office of the First and deputy First Minister (OFMdFM) has issued its Programme for Cohesion, Sharing and Integration (CSI) for public consultation. It contains the devolved government’s plans to tackle sectarianism, broader racism and promote cohesion, sharing and integration for all sectors of society.

In this lunchtime briefing at 12 noon on 21 October 2010, the Human Rights Commission will explain its response to the consultation, which is likely to focus on:

the scope of the programme including gender, sexual orientation, and discrimination
the international human rights standards and duties that should underpin the programme
the focus on individual behaviour rather than, for example, institutional inequality
the underpinning concepts (good relations integration etc), and
the mechanisms proposed to implement the programme.

If you would like to attend, please contact Charlene Craig before Monday 18 October at events@nihrc.org or call 028 9024 3987.

Cohesion, Sharing, Integration... or Sectarianism, Racism and Segregation
Rural Community Network Events
For more information click here

Chartered Institute of Housing in Northern Ireland - Cohesion, Sharing and Integration - Shared Housing
The Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister has now published the Northern Ireland Executive’s Programme for Cohesion, Sharing and Integration (CSI) for consultation. This will determine the key actions that the Northern Ireland Executive believes are crucial to achieving a shared and better future for all. Encouraging shared neighbourhoods is listed as a theme for action, but in the context of long-term priorities. Housing’s role in achieving social cohesion was highlighted by the Commission on the Future for Housing and, with the aim of taking forward the Commission’s recommendations in this area, we are seeking your views on the role which housing professionals should play in implementing the Programme for Cohesion, Sharing and Integration.
To complete the survey click on the link below
http://www.cih.org/your_location/ni/index.php

Calling All Women – Have Your Say on the Future of a Stable, Peaceful and Equal Society

The draft programme for Cohesion, Sharing and Integration was launched for public consultation on the 27th July and a partnership of women’s organisations led by the Women’s Resource and Development Agency is organising a series of consultation events.

Funding for the events has been secured from the Community Relations Council and we do hope women everywhere will make a real effort to get along to one of the workshops:

Tues 5th October:
12:30pm-2:30pm at Altnaveigh House, Newry

Wed 6th October:
2pm-4pm & 7pm-9pm at the Training for Women Network, Belfast

See 'End Segregation' Facebook page
Click here