DUP minister's cut to Irish language scheme breached equality rules, says commssioner

When Communities Department officials made a submission to then minister Paul Givan in December 2016 for a decision, no equality assessment information was included for the minister’s consideration, the Equality Commission said.

Former Stormont deputy first minister Martin McGuinness said the £50,000 reduction by the DUP minister to the Liofa scheme which enabled people to attend Irish classes was one of the reasons he resigned early last year.

Power-sharing has still not been restored despite money being found for the scheme at a later date.

Chief commissioner Michael Wardlow said: “The department should have undertaken screening and equality impact assessment at appropriate times to inform the development and decision making on both the scheme and the programme.

“Our investigation found that this did not happen in either case and the minister was not furnished with appropriate equality assessment information.”

The commission said the department failed to comply with its equality scheme commitments on screening and equality impact assessment relating to funding decisions for the Liofa Gaeltacht Bursary Scheme for 2017.

The commission also investigated a Community Halls pilot programme which was launched by Mr Givan at an Orange Hall and which Sinn Fein claimed appeared to be directed at one side of the community.

Both concern the distribution of public money based on set criteria and award processes and, in both instances, the funding options presented to the minister for decision should have been informed by an equality assessment against the objectives set for the expenditure, the commission said.

The Liofa scheme funded at least 100 people a year to attend summer Irish language classes in the Donegal gaeltacht and was established by former Sinn Fein Culture Minister Caral Ni Chuilin.

Mr Givan had been heavily criticised by republicans over his decision to cut the funding.

Mr Wardlow added: “Our recommendations include the need for the department to take a consistent approach to the identification of policies for the purposes of its equality scheme arrangements; and to ensure that decision makers are presented with appropriate information on the equality implications.

“Any continuation of either funding programme must be informed by equality assessments in the future.”

Sinn Fein Assembly member Declan Kearney said the Liofa decision was appalling.

“Similarly, the distribution of community halls funding raised widespread public concern, given that the vast majority of the beneficiaries were from the unionist tradition.”

But Mr Givan told Good Morning Ulster that the report vindicates his position.

“At the time there were outrageous claims made, particularly by Sinn Fein representatives, that my decision was discriminatory and now the evidence trail demonstrates completely contrary to all of that. So I want to welcome that finding,” he said.

He added: “At no stage in this investigation did the Equality Commission either write to me or seek to have a meeting with me to discuss any of these issues and that demonstrates to me where they believe culpability rests in terms of the process.”

Mr Givan said the advice provided to him at the time was that equality guidelines were not applicable at the time of his decision.

“That was clear in reading the report, that that had been looked at.”

Mr Givan said that when he became minister he continued the Liofa programme.

The Liofa bursary scheme investigated by the commission was set up seperately in 2012, he said.

However there was no equality impact assessment carried out in the manner in which was set up, he said.

“There was no equality impact assessment carried out by the then Sinn Fein minister to establish and support the scheme,” he said.

“The Equality Commission has found that actually this bursary programme was flawed in its inception, in his report.”

The bursary scheme had no equality assessment, did not have executive approval and was funded through internal monitoring rounds, he said.

“At the time there was consderable controversy over the way Sinn Fein introduced this scheme”.

If Sinn Fein had carried out that process in a much more “collegiate” way with collective responsibility the outcome may have been different, he said.

The Liofa scheme he continued as minister started with 1000 people and was then uplifted to 20,000 people by Sinn Fein, he said.

However the bursary scheme did not have the equality impact assessment as it should have had, he added.