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Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill

The hon. Lady suggests that we are not concerned about under-representation of the Protestant community, but my party has always stood for strong anti-discrimination legislation, and we supported the creation of the Equality Commission and the Fair Employment Commission. The fair employment laws have acted to assist Protestants when they have been discriminated against and encouraged and assisted a variety of employers to improve the representation of Protestants in their work force. They have helped to improve the representation of Catholics in a series of work forces as well. For that reason, the Fair Employment Commission, the fair employment laws and the Equality Commission have always been opposed by the Democratic Unionist party. The party has opposed every measure aimed at fair employment and every counter-discrimination measure.