Catholics 'do not suffer job discrimination'

Nationalist claims that Catholics in Northern Ireland are more likely to be disadvantaged than Protestants in the jobs market were today due to be challenged by Ulster unionists.

A document written by former Stormont environment minister Dermot Nesbitt will today claim that the unemployment differential between Catholics and Protestants does not take account of population changes and has remained static because of the way it is calculated.

The study which will be circulated to TDs, MPs and Stormont Assembly members argues that Sinn Fein leaders are wrong when they claim Catholics suffer greater discrimination than Protestants.

A UUP source said: “Our document shows that attempts by republicans to link equality issues to violence are wrong.

“Catholics have at least as good a chance of getting jobs as Protestants. The real answer to the concern about unemployment lies in the workings of the labour market.

“The unemployment differential as it is currently calculated does not work. It fails to take into account the increased numbers of Catholics coming onto the jobs market.”

Sinn Fein leaders have insisted that equality issues are a key element of the negotiations taking place between the Northern Ireland parties and the Irish and British Governments as they attempt to restore the Assembly and the power-sharing institutions at Stormont.

On Saturday, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams said his party was involved in detailed talks with the British government and focussing on the issue of the unemployment differential between the two communities.