Discrimination
Sir: The Government Green Paper on the future of Northern Ireland relies heavily on the Cameron Report to support a general charge of discrimination against the
Unioniet authorities. Re-examination of that report, which dealt with the disturbances of 1968 and early 1969, reveals that it cited, remarkably little evidence to support the crisp general conclusions
about alleged discrimination quoted in the Green Paper.
The evidence cited clearly establishes only that in four local council areas (out of a total of about seventy) a Catholic majority amongst the adult population was converted into a large Unionist majority on the council. This was the weakness in the Unionist Position which enabled the other charges to stick.
Whilst making general charges about supposedly unfair practices in the allocation of houses, the Report surprisingly does not once record the actual numbers of houses allocated between the two communities in one council area or over-all; nor does it attempt to assess the over-all housing performance in comparison with the United Kingdom or with the Republic although the relevant figures are readily available. These two factors would have placed the authorities in a different light.
The commission cites seven cases where the pattern of employment is said to indicate discriminaton by Unionist councils but with one exception the few figures quoted are statistically worthless. The Commission gives no indication that it ever considered the statistical significance of the evidence submitted to it. Furthermore the Commission does not reveal what it thinks the split of jobs should have been. The inference, perhaps, is that it ought to be the same as the ratio of the adult populations within the area of the council concerned. Even in an ideal world this would not be the case and for senior staff, especially, the recruitment area ought to be very wide indeed. Again because of educational and economic factors Catholics have tended to be lees well qualified and lels skilled than Protestants. In Eire according to the 1961 census report a Protestant was twice as likely as a Catholic to have a clerical job and five times more likely to be a manager. These factors were not taken into account by the Commission. Surprisingly the Commission again made no attempt to assess the ,over-all position, the factor that Would have been most telling. That was left to Professor Richard Rose, who in his critical study Government without Consensus, found that in Northern Ireland as a Whole 8 per cent of Protestants and 7 per cent of Catholics said that they or someone in the family was currently publicly employed.
Lastly it could be argued that the Commission did not give Proper weight to various Unionist arguments, for instance, about non-participation by Roman Catholics or about the slow elimination
of Protestants from Roman Catholic controlled areas. These factors, now well documented, explain, even if they do not entirely justify, the Unionist determination to maintain control of as many local authorities as possible.
The Cameron Report provided a useful analysis of the events in the field associated with the early disturbances in Northern Ireland. That was its main function. It cannot be regarded as a definitive account of religious discrimination in any area at all.
Cohn Baskett 30 High Oaks Road, Welwyn Garden City, Herts.
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