Madam, - Your Editorial of November 27th states that the punitive treatment of Protestant schools in the recent Budget amounts to a clear example of discrimination.
You also point out that, were there to be similar treatment of Catholic schools in Northern Ireland, there would be howls of outrage in the Dáil.
The reality, however, is it is inconceivable that such a development could happen in Northern Ireland.
With the equality provisions which govern policy-making put in place as a result of the Good Friday Agreement, which are policed by the Equality Commission, and with the arrangements for the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission to assess the a human rights implications of all Assembly legislation, the scope for such overt discrimination against a minority is nil.
Normally, one would look to the Equality Authority and the Human Rights Commission to intervene on such an issue. But of course the Budget cuts delivered to those organisations have destroyed their effectiveness.
We constantly hear from nationalists that in a United Ireland minority rights (in this case, Protestant rights) would be given protection: as ever, actions speak louder than words. - Yours, etc,