February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Ray O’Hanlon
The Rockland County Legislature closed out the 20th century portion of the MacBride Principles campaign with a unanimous vote in support of legislation backing the fair-employment guidelines.
The Rockland bill, drawn up by Legislator Ryan Karben, was passed at the legislature’s December meeting and will require county contractors who do business in Northern Ireland to certify that they are in compliance with MacBride.
"The MacBride Principles are a proven framework for encouraging political and economic freedom in Northern Ireland. It’s time Rockland County flexed its economic muscle to weaken discrimination in Northern Ireland," Karben said.
The Rockland bill was co-sponsored by Legislators Patrick J. Moroney, John A. Murphy, Christopher P. St. Lawrence and Dennis Troy.
The legislation will apply to all Rockland County contracts over $2500 in value that are not subject to competitive bidding. Contractors will be obliged to increase the representation of underrepresented religious groups in their workforces, publicly advertise job openings and ensure non-discriminatory layoffs and termination policies.
Follow us on social media
Keep up to date with the latest news with The Irish Echo
"It is important that Rockland stands up for the MacBride Principles. In order for peace to succeed the United States must remain engaged," said Troy. Troy was grand marshal of the 1999 Rockland St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
The MacBride Principles are a set of nine guidelines named after the late Nobel Peace Prize winner Sean MacBride. They are aimed at redressing the situation in Northern Ireland in which Catholics are more than two and half times more likely to be long-term unemployed as Protestants.
The principles, however, require remedial action by employers should that situation shift dramatically, leaving the Protestant workforce in a similar situation.
Vallone resolution
New York City Council Speaker Peter Vallone has introduced a resolution to the council urging the United Nations to "initiate an independent investigation" into the 1999 murder of Northern Ireland civil rights attorney Rosemary Nelson.
The resolution also calls for an independent judicial inquiry into the 1989 murder of civil rights attorney Patrick Finucane at his home in Belfast.
"Those involved should be exposed and held responsible," Vallone said.
Meanwhile, Rep. Peter King has called on the Northern Ireland secretary of state, Peter Mandelson, to institute an independent inquiry into the recent discovery of intelligence files at Stoneyford Orange Hall in County Antrim.
"The fact that government files on nationalist citizens were found in an Orange Hall and that details from those files have been turned over to loyalist death squads is shocking and disgraceful," King said in a statement.
"The inquiry must determine why these files were amassed in the first place and, most important, who turned them over to loyalist hit men. Was it the RUC or some element of British intelligence?" King added.
Jersey AOH gives
More than 40 charitable groups in Cape May County in New Jersey are to benefit from the Ancient Order of Hibernians.
The AOH is to distribute $60,000 in cash and scholarship gifts to 42 organizations in the area.
The money is derived from the AOH’s eighth annual Irish Festival, held in North Wildwood last September. Festival sponsors contend that the Wildwood festival is now the largest Irish event of its kind in the U.S.
Co-chairs Jack Connelly and Joe Nelson said the cash gifts were a way for the AOH to say thanks to the city of North Wildwood and the local community for helping make the festival a huge success.