Fall out of Denton affair likely to harm community relations

THE fate of official reports is often to gather dust on shelves and to have little impact on the problem investigated. Time will tell if this will happen to the "Hayes Review", an investigation by the former Northern Ireland Ombudsman into what official language terms "Staff Deployment in the Northern Ireland Civil Service".

The more popular term for what Dr Maurice Hayes was investigating was the "Denton affair", in which the North's Economy and Agriculture Minister, Baroness Denton, came under the spotlight for her handling, of staff relations.

The prime mover in bringing Lady Denton's activities to public notice was the Irish News. The daily chronicled the ins and outs of the affair with such assiduity that the Northern Ireland Secretary, Sir Patrick Mayhew, was left with little option but to invite Dr Hayes to look into it.

The Baroness and her Department had been accused of breaching fair employment practices despite the fact - that Lady Denton has ministerial, responsibility for fair employment in, the North. A Protestant civil servant who had been responsible for the sectarian harassment of a Catholic colleague was retained in the Minister's private office while the victim was, moved.

Dr Hayes investigated this allegation and took in three other cases as well where the conduct of the Minister and senior civil servants in personnel matters had been questioned.

HIS main finding and the one of most comfort to the Minister and civil service was that there was no evidence of sectarian discrimination. But he does weigh in with the less serious but still substantial charge that there was "insensitivity in the handling of staff and poor personal relationships" as well as "a degree of unsureness in personnel management and general lack of clarity in the way in which important messages were conveyed".

The principal case under consideration involved a Catholic, referred to as "Mrs B", who worked as diary secretary in the Minister's private office in the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland (DANI) and whom the Minister had asked to have transferred because she was not fitting in".

Mrs B was informed by the Minister's private secretary, a Protestant referred to as "Mrs A", that she would be moving. Almost immediately afterwards, Mrs B made a complaint that she had been subjected to sectarian harassment by Mrs A on several occasions. Although it is not detailed in the report, it is understood, the main incident complained of took place when the Drumcree events were being shown on television and Mrs A made certain comments which Mrs B found offensive.

Mrs B herself now wished to be transferred and this was arranged. Before she left the Minister's private office her desk was cleared out by Mrs A, an action which upset Mrs B even further.

Mrs B ultimately brought her sectarian harassment case to the North's Fair Employment Commission and a settlement was agreed whereby she received £10,000 from the Department of Agriculture. Earlier, the Department had issued a formal warning to Mrs A over one of three alleged incidents of harassment, having found that the other two were not substantiated.

The issue surfaced in the media with allegations that the Minister had procured the transfer of a harassment victim against accepted Departmental procedures. The new permanent secretary of the Department denied the Minister had ordered the transfer. However, a leaked document showed Lady Denton had requested Mrs B's removal and the Minister herself confirmed she had sought to have the official moved.

Dr Hayes comments duly that the permanent secretary had outlined "the theoretical position and it was correct as a statement of the legal position but the semantics did not represent the realities".

He notes also that "evidence is not available" for the grounds for the decision to move Mrs B and he is implicitly critical of the fact that the decision was conveyed to her by a woman she perceived as her tormentor, who then went on to clear out her desk.

Dr Hayes observes that there appeared to have been no discussion of the appropriateness of retaining Mrs A in the relatively high profile post of private secretary.

"Mrs B, on the other hand, was left with an additional grievance. In a complaint of harassment in which she was seen to be the victim, it was she who had suffered the indignity of a move and it was the harasser who had been left in possession. Apart altogether from Mrs B's feelings, this would be regarded as quite an unusual outcome if the guidelines had been followed."

SO the conclusion by Dr Hayes that Baroness Denton was not guilty of sectarian discrimination does not let her completely off the hook. His judiciously worded report reveals a Minister who behaved with little consciousness that she was traversing a political and religious minefield. The impact of the whole affair on community relations and the minority community's faith or lack of it in the authorities in Northern Ireland will last a long time.