Date: 15 October 2015
Venue: UNISON, Galway House, Belfast
As those directly affected are well aware austerity has been biting in Northern Ireland for years. In addition to the cuts and spending plans of the new UK government, the ‘finance and welfare’ changes envisaged in the Stormont House Agreement plan to take austerity to new levels and have already destabilised the political institutions at Stormont.
As elsewhere austerity almost always exacerbates inequalities and poverty. Within a divided and post conflict society however such impacts carry additional risks. Elements of the peace agreements to date from the Good Friday Agreement on also included provisions and frameworks whose objective was to move away from historic patterns of inequality and disadvantage. Yet austerity now threatens to put what progress has been achieved into reverse.
This one day conference will explore perspectives on the impacts of austerity from home and abroad; and will seek to address the question of the immediate and long term impacts of austerity on inequality in Northern Ireland.
International Speakers:
Virgínia Brás Gomes, Member UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Elena Crespi FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights) covering the FIDH report Downgrading Rights: the cost of austerity in Greece
SHA inequalities research presentation: The conference will feature a presentation of research conducted by Christine Bell and Robbie McVeigh into the equality impacts of the ‘finance and welfare’ provisions of the Stormont House Agreement.
Impacts of cuts and addressing inequality: including presentations on matters ranging from analysing the impact of current budgetary plans, the organising model of PPR, to CAJ’s recent successful judicial review over the failure to adopt an anti-poverty strategy based on objective need.
Other speakers and panellists include: Patricia McKeown, UNISON (co-convener Equality Coalition); Les Allamby, Chief Commissioner, NI Human Rights Commission; Michael Wardlow, Chief Commissioner, Equality Commission NI; Fiona McCausland (Human Rights Consortium); Bernadette McAliskey (STEP); Dessie Donnelly and Nichola Browne (Participation and Practice in Rights – PPR), Paul MacFlynn (NEVIN Institute), Gordon Anthony BL, Sinead Larkin, Goretti Horgan, Lynn Carvill and Charmain Jones.
The conference will be chaired by Susan McKay and opened by Daniel Holder, Committee on the Administration of Justice Equality Coalition co-convener.
This conference is run in partnership with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) and the Human Rights Consortium (HRC).
Click here to register for the conference or alternatively email equalitycoalition@caj.org.uk.