Niall Crowley resigns as Equality Authority CEO
Posted by Maman Poulet on 11 Dec 2008 at 11:01 pm | Tagged as: Equality, Irish Politics, Recession
It’s not a surprise given the butchering of the Equality and Human Rights infrastructure in Ireland this year. News of Niall’s resignation will be received with great sadness by many given the leadership he has given in bringing not only support for equality legislation but also policy development and research and good practice in the field.
The good stuff happened despite much opposition from both governments and their supporters and the private sector and those who would rather we didn’t talk about the reality that is discrimination and often hatred based on gender, race, age, nationality, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, family status, membership of the Travelling Community.
Weakening of legislation, impending decentralisation, proposed mergers, and finally 43% of a budget cut when other agencies only had cuts of 5-10% at most – the writing was on the wall all year and it seems most people didn’t give a shit.
And Ciaran Cuffe and his colleagues will stand by and wring their hands as many in FF are no doubt delighted, and some in Fine Gael snigger as a so called ‘quango’ gets flittered. The companies, religious bodies and agencies who don’t want to abide by the law will find it easier to do so as a weakened authority will find itself unable to support those who feel they have been discriminated against.
And there is no doubt that in recessionary times the whiter, ablebodied, not pregnant, straighter, settled amongst us are going to be the chosen ones when the choosing gets done.
More later no doubt…
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So they won…
not good.
Crowley was very very progressive.
Hi,
Where did you get that information from?You obviously do not need to name names but just did you get it from other than me?
I heard it earlier and posted it on Politics.ie but no media seems to have picked it up?
Just wondering if there is another source to substantiate what I heard. My source is very reliable.
No Offence but who are you??
3 diff calls today from reliable sources…none of which would be p.ie readers
Corelli- I dont read politics.ie- its almost a point of principle- I got the info from a department contact earlier today.
Corelli, I posted and linked to your thread from p.ie about 3pm but I doubt Maman Poulet got it from there.
[...] is with great regreat that I read on mammanpoulet.com that Niall Crowley has resigned as CEO of the Equality Authority this evening. I am saddened by [...]
It’s in today’s Irish Times:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2008/1212/1229035603353.html
Quote:
Mr Crowley said: “I have been forced into this action by the manner in which I believe the Equality Authority has been rendered unviable by the decision of the Minister to cut its funding by 43 per cent and to continue decentralisation of its staff.
Interesting:
He said the “only credible explanation” for the treatment of the authority was that some of its case work, “particularly in relation to allegations of discrimination in the public sector, has been experienced as a threat by senior civil servants”.
[...] Maman Poulet on the resignation of Equality Authority CEO Niall Crowley [...]
..and his chairwoman believes the EA can continue to operate and function with 43% cuts and the loss of its pioneering CEO… who does she represent? The National Disability Authority? ..ummmm that doesnt quite compute… aaahh, Fianna Fail… now it all makes sense.
More than sadness, this is an utter disgrace – both the EQ and HRC are being turned into neutered quango puppies because the Soldiers of Density and their green poodle don’t like free speech and its implications.
This is directly linked to the wider political malaise about FF and the fiscal crisis. So if there’s another ‘Lisbon’ I’m simply voting NO because I don’t forgive the arrogant Cowen Troika shits for ripping up these and other institutions and for all the measly government cutbacks while the so-called elite travel first class and swan around at junkets. Twnety Major had a good word to classify them all, so he did!
[...] wondering where their principles lie this morning following the resignation of Niall Crowley yesterday? Angela Kerins chairs the board of an organisation that faces a 43% cut [...]
[...] Niall Crowley’s resignation as the CEO of the Equality over budget cutbacks which would see the authority lose 40% of its budget and enforce a move to Roscrea that would decimate its legal staff raises more questions for Angela Kerins and the others on the Equality Authority board. [...]
This is indeed sad news. Shameful and angering – can anyone explain why they voted for this government?
The way in which the Equality Authority and the NCCRI have been decimated in the budget is a complete and utter scandal.
Even worse is the Equality Authority cuts given the sheer amount of discrimination unveiled in the public sector by the authority. I guess the Government found it to much of an embarrassment.
Only in Ireland could a man who throws racist slurs about the dail chamber become minister with responsibility for minorities.
There is a poll on the irish Times website today (13/12/08) regarding the cuts to the budget Equality Authority. Please show your support by voting ‘NO’ to the cuts, and passing the message on. The poll closes at midnight.
Here is the link: http://www.irishtimes.com/polls/
People need to focus on individual rights, not group rights. Focussing on equal outcomes invariably leads to individual injustice as groups tend to perform differently. For instance, in Dan Seligman’s book ‘A Question of Intelligence’ he notes that East Asians tend to outperform whites on non-verbal elements in the tests (whether taken in the US, Asia, or the UK & also when adopted by non Asian families). So, expecting whites to be as represented in math/science professions per population seems unrealistic. Likewise, Ashkenazi Jews consistently score above average on psychometric tests. Not every group is going to be represented in the professions to the same extent. There is, however, overlap amongst groups so you can’t imply much about an individual based on a group average.
This is why insisting on equal outcomes rather than equal opportunity is beating up against human nature & evolution.
http://www.gnxp.com/blog/2007/10/james-watson-tells-inconvenient-truth_296.php
http://infoproc.blogspot.com/2008/01/no-scientific-basis-for-race.html
All this equality authority board is waste of money. What did they do to the people with disability. Those over 18s young people with physical and mental disability have no services in place at the moment and I know this.parents like me who have young adults with severe physical disability know that many people, vulnerable people like these named above are discriminated against from accessing basis services they are entitled to. And this board to be there with a big budget which cannot target the most vulnerable people like those disabled should be abolished.
No money to be wasted in your meetings, parties, coffee etc… I am glad the minister is opening his eyes to see how taxpayers money is misused.
May be the next board will think twice before wasting our money
We cannot judge very much about the decision of resignation really because it is so hard to trust any one in the government spending. Many people, maybe the equality authority board wasted the money or did not deliver what it should.
Believe me,no one is perfect this days. You can be surprise what money can make people to become.
Katty
The last two comments are from the same IP address – someone working for the HSE of all places.
This makes me laugh as it’s the HSE who are responsible for service provision for disabled people. And all the cuts and lack of services and lack of regulation of such services!
It was the Equality Authority who wished to check on conditions and human rights for disabled people in workshops and other places! And they had their budget nobbled!
Go figure!!
[...] Maman Poulet on the resignation of Equality Authority CEO Niall Crowley [...]
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
He only used the legislation to go after what he deemed discrimnatory not what the legislation deemed so.
€500 000 so that 700 more equal than others could become full members in a Golf Club. An extra €200 000 wanted because he wanted to go to the Supreme Court but an epileptic refused service in a pub? No interest.
A Schizophrenic who was called a liar by an Indian Doctor? No interest.
William – are you aware of the Section 67 representations which limit the investigations which can be conducted by the authority? These restrict the type of investigations and legal assistance which can be provided by the authority. And given the 43% cut in budget you can expect that these investigations will be even further limited as the government shut up shop. In terms of disability cases people may be able to seek the assistance of professional advocates to help them prepare cases.