Vol. 575 No. 3
297 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the contacts he has had with his ministerial colleagues at the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Education and Science, with a view to developing a cross-departmental plan to combat racism. [26800/03]
Following the World Conference Against Racism in September 2001 my Department embarked on a comprehensive consultative process to identify the key issues on racism here and the priority issues for inclusion in the development of a national plan. The consultation process took place between March 2002 and February 2003 and was overseen by a steering group. The group was comprised representation from Government and non-government organisations, including representatives from the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Education and Science. More details on the steering group are available in the document, Diverse Voices – A Summary of the Outcomes of the Consultative Process and a Proposed Framework for the National Action Plan Against Racism, that is available on my Department's website.
Draft recommendations for the national action plan are included in the report, Promoting Anti-racism and Interculturalism in Education, produced by the Department of Education and Science. These draft recommendations are a result of extensive work and consultations that included a national education conference held in Dublin in November 2002.
National newspaper advertisements were placed to encourage submissions to the NPAR. As many as 94 submissions were received and 31 of them were on education. My Department also provided funding to support a wide range of organisations to undertake their own consultative processes. My Department also held a thematic round table on education that involved a range of key stakeholders. A draft of the plan will be forwarded to the relevant Departments in the near future.
