School protests reveal Irish lack of tolerance -O'Donnell

The Minister with responsibility for human rights has said incidents at schools in Galway and Belfast this week show that Ireland has a long way to go in ensuring a tolerant society.

The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ms Liz O'Donnell, described as a shame the boycott of Ballinruane National School in Co Galway by parents opposed to the attempted enrolment of Traveller children. She also said she was appalled by the protests at Holy Cross School in Belfast.

Ms O'Donnell was speaking in Dublin yesterday at the publication of a book of essays entitled Responding to Racism in Ireland.

She reiterated the Government's promise of a public awareness campaign on racism, to begin at the end of October, but said the country was playing catch-up on the issue.

Referring to an Amnesty report published this week, which found widespread experience of racism among Ireland's black and ethnic minority communities, Ms O'Donnell agreed that more needed to be done at the political level.

"We are in the position of putting together the policies and procedures but we are playing catch-up unfortunately. These people have been among us now since 1996 at least.

"The school boycott in Galway this week is an example of how far we have to go in vindicating individual rights.

"Recent appalling incidents in north Belfast have also made it clear to us that a lot more time and a great deal more effort is needed before the promise of tolerance heralded by the Good Friday agreement will work its way to marginalised communities."

Ms O'Donnell appealed to the media to "tread carefully" on race issues, saying unbalanced reporting or sensational headlines had fuelled intolerance of asylum-seekers and refugees. She also stressed the importance for the rich developed nations to meet their overseas development aid commitments fully.

"It is to deny the compelling logic of human nature that these people will not try to get away from chronic under-development in their own country," she said.

Responding to Racism in Ireland is co-edited by Mr Fintan Farrell of the Irish Traveller Movement and Mr Philip Watt, director of the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism. The contributors include The Irish Times Social and Racial Affairs Correspondent, Nuala Haughey.