Government blow to a republic of equals

THE 43% cut in the budget of the Equality Authority and the subsequent resignation of its chief executive, Niall Crowley, are a cause of great concern to all of us who believe that equality is one of the necessary means of guarding freedom and democracy in a republic.

That this has been accompanied by a significant cut in the budget of the Human Rights Commission, the demise of the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism and the subsuming of the Combat Poverty Agency into a government department suggests that equality and rights are not regarded as important by the Government of this Republic.

The Ireland Institute has been promoting republican values for a number of years now in our programmes of lectures and in our publications.