Submission to the Assembly and Executive Review Committee’s Review of Assembly and Executive Reform
19 November, 2025
The Equality Coalition has responded to the Assembly and Executive Review Committee’s (AERC) Review into Assembly and Executive Reform. Our submission includes several key asks: The AERC should advocate for the repeal of the St Andrews veto and its replacement with the NI Bill of Rights. The Petition of Concern should be further reformed to introduce the adjudicatory role of...
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Submission by the Equality Coalition to the draft Programme for Government Consultation
30 October, 2025
The Equality Coalition has submitted our response to the draft Programme for Government consultation. Our response focuses on: Programme for Government legal framework The previous draft PfG in the New Decade New Approach deal The 2024 PfG consultation Equality Coalition members ‘asks’ for areas in the PfG
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Equality Coalition Committee for Communities Oral Evidence
25 April, 2024
On 25 April, the Equality Coalition gave evidence to the Northern Ireland Assembly Committee for Communities on the Anti-Poverty Strategy. Daniel Holder (CAJ), John-Patrick Clayton (UNISON), Becca Bor (Northern Ireland Anti-Poverty Network) and Trása Canavan (Barnardo’s) represented the Coalition. They spoke about the duty to adopt an Anti-Poverty Strategy, judicial reviews of the Northern Ireland Executive and the 2020-2022 Mandate...
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Progressing an anti-poverty strategy for Northern Ireland – Briefing note
1 June, 2023
The Equality Coalition, Barnardo’s NI, and the Northern Ireland Anti-Poverty Network (NIAPN) have produced a joint briefing note calling for the development of an anti-poverty strategy to be a day one priority for the next NI Executive. The three organisations launched the briefing at a seminar held in Stormont on Wednesday 28 June 2023. Northern Ireland has already been waiting for an...
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Policy Asks 2022
1 January, 2022
The Equality Coalition has developed a series of ‘Policy Asks’ for Northern Ireland, which have a particular emphasis on rights and equality. These ‘asks’ are based on a recent mapping exercise examining the status of rights-based commitments from the agreements of the NI peace process.
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Submission in relation to the ECNI draft legal assistance policy
1 September, 2021
The Equality Coalition for NI (ECNI) recently consulted on their new (draft) Policy for the Provision of Legal Advice and Assistance. In response, we produced this submission suggesting a number of changes to the draft document. Our recommendations focus primarily on encouraging ECNI to use their enforcement powers strategically and proactively going forwards.
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Submission on Programme for Government outcomes and draft budget
1 February, 2021
We have finalised our submission on the Programme for Government (PfG) outcomes and draft budget (including departmental screenings/EQIAs). Given their interlinking nature, this submission responds to a number of different, concurrent consultations at once. Our submission examines the rights and equality implications of current plans, including whether the Section 75 statutory equality duty has been applied adequately throughout the budgetary process. We...
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Stormont’s vetoes in the context of a pandemic – An Equality Coalition briefing note
1 November, 2020
In 2019, our Manifesto for a Rights Based Return to Power Sharing called for a new agreement to remove those political vetoes within the NI Executive that are not based on (and have conflicted with) equality and rights duties, and as such contributed to the destabilisation and collapse of the NI Executive in 2017. The issue returned to prominence in November...
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Written Evidence to the NI Assembly Ad Hoc Committee on the Bill of Rights from the Equality Coalition Co-Conveners
1 October, 2020
A Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland was first promised in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, but progress towards its development has repeatedly stalled. The establishment of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Bill of Rights at Stormont represents a fresh attempt to move things forward. On 22 October 2020, the Co-Conveners of the Equality Coalition (CAJ and UNISON) gave...
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Equality Proofing the Return to School – Briefing Paper
1 September, 2020
The Covid-19 pandemic has had far reaching impacts on all aspects of NI society, not least education, with most pupils being withdrawn from school for five months due to the strict lockdown period and the subsequent summer break. As staff and students begin the new school term, we must ensure that their return to school is carried out in a...
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Response to consultation on ECNI’s complaints and investigation procedures
2 May, 2019
The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI) has been reviewing and revising the procedures related to its enforcement (investigation) powers. These powers enable ECNI to investigate public bodies that fail to comply with their Section 75 duties. In March 2019, ECNI launched a public consultation on its (draft) ‘Revised Policy and Procedures for Complaints and Investigations’. The Equality Coalition responded...
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Manifesto for a Rights Based Return to Power-Sharing
1 April, 2019
More than two years have elapsed since the devolved power sharing institutions provided for under the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) collapsed in Northern Ireland. Additionally, many of the rights based commitments of the peace settlement, including those originally designed as to act as safeguards on the NI Executive and Assembly, remain unimplemented or have been misimplemented. Fresh cross-party talks to...
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Briefing summarising the Expert Advisory Panel reports on the social inclusion strategies
In March 2021, the Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey published the reports of four Expert Advisory Panels to help inform the development of the new social inclusion strategies for Northern Ireland. We have drafted a short briefing paper summarising each of the four reports and their key recommendations.
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