Employment in Northern Ireland has always been a highly sensitive issue, particularly when it comes to the break-down of jobs on the religion of the occupants in both the public and private sectors.
Historically, Roman Catholic leaders have claimed that their community have not received a fair share-out of jobs in the Northern Ireland work sector and down the years they have used this perceived grievance to agitate against the various government
s of the day, the Stormont administration and the direct rule regime.
New labour force statistics released yesterday reveal a dramatic rise in the number of Roman Catholics in work over a period from 1992 to 2005 and the trend is significantly exceeding the ratio of Protestants in jobs, resulting in concerns by unionist politicians that people from their constituency are getting a raw deal, especially in the public sector.
The equation of 54 per cent of the working age population is identified as Protestant and 56 per cent as Catholic.
However, it is in the civil service sectors and public statutory organisations that the levels of Protestant recruitment is now much lower than that of Roman Catholics, leading to a marked imbalance which Government heads and the devolved Assembly need to be addressing.
East Londonderry DUP MP Gregory Campbell has demanded action to address the under-representation of Protestants.
The blatant Government discrimination against Protestant applying to join the PSNI through the 50-50 procedures has left many members of the majority community in Northern Ireland disillusioned by the policing recruitment practices and alienated from Government employment procedures that make Northern Ireland a “cold house” for them.
Jobs should always be allocated on the basis of the best qualified person being successful and, as Gregory Campbell points out, the workplace should be totally devoid of discrimination – where individuals excel through merit.
