Over 300 people sign response to Bill of Rights consultation

Fermanagh Sinn Féin Councillor Phil Flanagan held a very successful campaign on Saturday afternoon in Enniskillen to highlight the weaknesses with the proposals outlined by the British Government for a Bill of Rights for the North, as agreed in the Good Friday Agreement.

At the information stall in the Diamond in the town centre, Councillor Flanagan, assisted by Ógra Shinn Féin activists, gathered more than 300 people signatures in response to the consultation registering their unhappiness with the proposals.


Speaking after the event, Councillor Phil Flanagan, said:

"Of the huge numbers of people we spoke with during the afternoon, many questions were asked about the document and its contents. The sheer volume of people who completed the consultation response show that people in Fermanagh are unhappy that the NIO have chosen to ignore advice from key stakeholders, including the Bill of Rights Forum and the Human Rights Commission and also the fact that social and economic protections are not being central to the Bill."

"Things like the right to a decent standard of living, good healthcare, a decent home, a fair wage and a safe environment. "

"At the Bill of Rights Forum, Sinn Féin endorsed a number of such rights that would make a real and positive impact on the lives of those in greatest need."

"The British Government's consultation ignores all of this, even though it was broadly agreed across a wide section of civic society groups and community sectors."

"We need socio economic rights protections that reflect the particular circumstances of the North. Structural socio-economic discriminations and inequalities were contributing factors to the conflict here, not least on key issues such as employment and housing. The routine violation of civil, political, economic and social rights - gerrymandering, right to housing, right to a job, internment and the long-term suspension of many rights under emergency provisions were major factors to the exacerbation and prolonging of the conflict."

Concluding, Councillor Flanagan said:

"Sinn Féin will continue to demand that legally enforceable economic and social rights - which go above and beyond the current inadequate protections - are enshrined in any new Bill of Rights."

"Sinn Féin wants maximum rights protection, maximum enforceability and absolutely no provision for the kind of wholesale suspension of rights and discrimination that we witnessed in the past.”